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

DATE: SUNDAY, December 19, 1993                   TAG: 9312190124
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SMOKING MAKES U.S. COMEBACK

After years of admonitions about the dangers of smoking, some Americans may be growing weary of the message. New evidence suggests that a steady decline in cigarette smoking over the last 25 years may be ending, with one recent study hinting that a resurgence may be under way.

Surprisingly, the shift appears to include groups that have historically been at the forefront of enlightened attitudes toward health habits - adults in their 40s, people with college educations and those in households with more than $35,000 in annual income.

People in these groups, which include new smokers and those who have quit, appear to have emerged into a new category of "social smokers" who enjoy lighting up only occasionally.

"I call it pleasure revenge," said Faith Popcorn, a New York marketing consultant who specializes in trends. "People are feeling tense. They're sick of being so perfect - going to bed early, working hard, eating all the right food, being absolutely politically perfect. So they decide to have a cigarette. It's arrogance, in a way."

While industry statistics show that domestic cigarette sales have been falling for more than a decade, some scientists and marketing experts say some pockets of society still resist health warnings against smoking.

Further, the emerging patterns demonstrate that the activities of health groups and people active in the anti-smoking movement might have reached a saturation point - at least until a new force such as higher cigarette taxes or stronger connections between smoking and disease initiates another decline.

Fueling the notion that smoking is on the rise within these groups is the latest annual health survey conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates for Prevention magazine.

It shows an increase of five percentage points, to 30 percent, in 1992 in the number of adults who identified themselves as cigarette smokers. Based on a telephone poll of 1,250 people 18 years of age or over, the survey reflected the highest level of smoking in the United States in eight years.

The Prevention survey also showed that the number of people 40 to 49 years of age who smoke increased 11 percentage points, to 32 percent; that the number of smokers with more than a high school education rose nearly 7 percentage points, to 25.9 percent; and that those with annual household incomes of more than $35,000 increased to 26.7 percent, from 19 percent in 1991.

by CNB