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 The report, conducted in conjunction with the Food and Drug
Administration, found 21 percent of U.S. adults, or 49 million
people, were tobacco users. Of them, about 87 percent reported
smoking cigarettes, cigars or some form of pipe.
The remainder reported using e-cigarettes or smokeless products such
as chewing or dissolvable tobacco, snuff, dip or snus.
The report drew from a National Health Interview Survey asking
adults aged 18 and older about the frequency of their tobacco use.
It found that 9.5 million American adults reported using two or more
tobacco products every day or some days at the time of the survey.
“These results make clear that more action is needed to reduce the
disease and death caused by cigarette use – and the FDA has
announced a comprehensive approach to do just that,” Dr. Scott
Gottlieb, commissioner of the agency, said in a statement.
The FDA is trying to regulate the nicotine content in cigarettes to
make them minimally or non-addictive.
Smoking kills an estimated 480,000 Americans each year, and about 16
million Americans suffer from a smoking-related illness, according
to the CDC.
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The survey showed rates of use of any tobacco product were higher
among adults living in the Midwest; people with a high-school
equivalency diploma; those with annual household incomes below
$35,000; adults uninsured or insured through Medicaid, the federal
insurance program for the poor; people with a disability; and those
who are lesbian, gay or bisexual.
(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
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