U.S. sees fewer smokers since settlement

SEATTLE, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- Cigarette smoking dropped by roughly 28 percent during the decade since the landmark settlement with the U.S. tobacco industry was reached, officials say.

In tangible terms, smokers are puffing on 135 billion cigarettes fewer in the 10 years since the state attorneys general negotiated the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement with tobacco companies, the National Association of Attorneys General said in a news release.

"This settlement continues to send a strong message to the tobacco companies: Americans won't tolerate the marketing of this deadly product to our young people," said Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna, the association's Tobacco Committee co-chairman.

Data from the U.S. Tobacco Tax Bureau of the Treasury indicate the tobacco industry sold 480.5 billion cigarettes in 1997, compared with sales of 344.4 billion projected for 2008. Cigarette consumption in 2007 fell by 5 percent from 2006, marking the largest one-year percentage decrease in cigarette sales since 1999, the attorneys general association said.