National smoking rate falls to all-time low
Posted Sep 7, 2011 3:37 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
New numbers from Statistics Canada show the national smoking rate hit its lowest-ever level, but Alberta teens are smoking at a higher rate than other Canadian youth.
The rate for Canadians aged 15-19 is at 12.2 per cent, but in Alberta, that rate is 16.9 per cent.
A Canadian Cancer Society spokesman said tobacco products that appeal to youth, like flavoured cigarillos, weren’t around 10 years ago.
While the government banned them in 2009, the society’s Rob Cunningham said other flavoured tobacco products, like water pipes, still pose a threat to young people, and that needs to be addressed.
An encouraging number from Statistics Canada shows the smoking rate for Canadian adults was at 17 per cent in 2010, down from 25 per cent in 1999.
