The campaign to reduce teenage smoking has stalled according to new data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Though teenage smoking fell sharply and steadily between 1997 and 2003,  the latest data from a large federal survey tracking smoking and other risky behaviors among young people found the proportion of teens who smoke levelled off between 2003 and 2007.
"This is the most dramatic indication that the great progress we are making has stalled," said Terry Pechacek from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
The proportion of students who smoke soared from 27.5 per cent in 1991 to 36.4 per cent in 1997 but then began to fall, hitting 21.9 per cent in 2003. The 2005 survey, however, showed the rate had crept up to 23 per cent. As that change was not statistically significant, officials were waiting for the 2007 figures to determine whether the downward trend had actually stalled. The 2007 figure is slightly lower at 20 per cent, but again, the figure is considered not statistically significant.
Pechacek blamed the trend in part on anti-smoking campaign cuts by states that had been funded by a nationwide 1998 settlement of a class-action lawsuit against the tobacco industry.
Bill Phelps, an Altria Group spokesman, said his company has a variety of programsme aimed at discouraging teen smoking, including punishing stores found selling cigarettes to children. (pi)