LOS ANGELES — After 40 years of continual declines, the smoking rate in the United States has stabilized for the past five years, with one in every five Americans — true for both adults and teenagers — still smoking regularly, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday.
Moreover, more than half of all children are exposed to secondhand smoke and 98 percent of those who live with a smoker have measurable levels of toxic chemicals in their bloodstream, setting them up for future harm from cancer, heart disease and a variety of other ailments.
“If you smoke and have children, don’t kid yourself. Your smoke is harming your children,” Dr. Thomas Frieden, CDC director, said.
The study found that:
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