Reducing the health consequences of smoking--a progress report.

Smoking has been identified as one of the health priority areas to be addressed by the Public Health Service's Objectives for the Nation initiative. Several gains in moving toward the 1990 goals for smoking and health have been recorded. Only 32.6 percent of the U.S. population over 16 years old were smokers in 1980, compared with 41.7 percent in 1965. The proportion of high school seniors who were daily smokers fell from nearly 30 percent in 1977 to 20 percent in 1981. Changes in smoking prevalence were related to critical events, such as the Surgeon General's reports on smoking. A variety of information and education programs aimed at specific groups are being carried out by Federal, State, and local governmental agencies and voluntary health organizations.