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U.S. Cigarette Sales Decline to 55-Year Low NewsMax.com Wires WASHINGTON -- Cigarette sales hit a 55-year low in 2005 and have fallen by more than 21 percent since state attorneys general negotiated a landmark settlement with the industry eight years ago, newly released figures show. The National Association of Attorneys General said Wednesday that the 378 billion cigarettes sold in the United States last year marked the lowest number sold since 1951, a time period in which the U.S. population more than doubled. "The continuing long-term decline shows that we are winning the battle against cigarette smoking," the attorneys general of Iowa, Idaho, California and Utah said at the association's annual spring conference. Cigarette sales declined 4.2 percent last year from 2004, one of the largest one-year percentage decreases since 1999. The attorneys general focused particular attention on stopping the sale of cigarettes to youth. Story Continues Below
The national group is pursuing agreements with major retailers so that they don't sell tobacco products to underage youth. The attorneys general are suing Internet tobacco vendors who sell tobacco products without verifying the buyers' age. The 1998 settlement between the tobacco companies and the states prohibited the targeting of youth in cigarette ads, bars outdoor ads of cigarettes and the advertising of cigarettes in public transportation systems. Tobacco causes over 400,000 deaths a year in the United States, making it the largest preventable cause of death. The figures cited by the attorneys general were compiled by the Tobacco Tax Bureau of the Treasury Department.
© 2006 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Editor's note: Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
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