SMOKING FAILS TO DROP FOR 1ST TIME IN 25 YEARS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, April 2, 1993                   TAG: 9304020162
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ATLANTA                                LENGTH: Short
SMOKING FAILS TO DROP FOR 1ST TIME IN 25 YEARS
The percentage of Americans who smoke failed to decline for the first time in a quarter-century, and the rate actually increased among blacks and women, federal health officials reported Thursday.
Wide availability of discount cigarettes and $3.9 billion in tobacco advertising are responsible for the reversal, the Centers for Disease Control said in calling for more cigarette tax increases to halt the trend.
"We need to look at bold steps because we're not making the progress we need to make," said Dr. Michael Eriksen, director of the CDC's Office of Smoking and Health.
The figures for 1991, the latest for which statistics are available, marked the end of 25 years of steady decreases in smoking. And they mean that, at the current rate, the United States won't meet a national health objective: 15 percent of Americans smoking by 2000.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB