Fewer Americans Smoking

A smaller number of Americans are smoking but aren’t quitting in numbers as dramatic as before, the Centers for Disease Control said Tuesday. The CDC found that 19.3 percent of American adults over 18, or about 45 million people, smoked in 2010, down just slightly from the 20.9 percent who smoked in 2005. And those who still smoke are cutting back: the number of people who smoke fewer than 10 cigarettes per day jumped from 16.4 percent to 21.8 percent. The quitting and cutting back are positive trends, the CDC said, but the pace of the declines slowed from the previous five-year period the agency studied.