Percentage of smokers levels
Atlanta (AP 5/23/97)

Cheaper cigarettes and smokers undeterred by health warnings and no-smoking rules have kept the number of adult smokers about the same in the first half of the 1990s.

Between 1985 and 1990, the percentage of adult smokers age 35 and older dropped from 28.4% to 24.1%. From 1990 to 1994 it hovered from 23.6% to 24.8%, the CDC said Thursday.

Officials said the decrease bottomed out for several reasons. Discount brands of smokes that cost a dollar a pack have now become a choice at the counter. Tobacco companies also cut the cost of their premium brands in 1993 by 40 cents a pack.

"These discount brands and the tobacco industry's use of more coupons on cigarettes have lowered the real price of cigarettes," said Michael Eriksen, director of the CDC's Office on Smoking & Health. "That's the major reason why we think we are seeing this plateau.“

John Banzhaf, director of the Action on Smoking and Health, said anti-smoking efforts also have failed to reach adult smokers unable to quit.