dr. c everett coop. i would like to thank my medical school mentor, dr. david satcher, former surgeon general, and all former surgeon generals for their work on tobacco. every surgeon general since 1964 has weighed in on the issue of tobacco. and every one has called for an immediate action to solve this problem. today's release is the 31st surgeon general's report on tobacco, preventing tobacco use among youth and young adults. it remind us once again that the burd in of tobacco puts a burden on society. and the report challenges us to end the epidemic of smoking among young people. and the numbers in this report are shocking. you have heard some of them earlier. they're worth repeating. every day, 1,200 americans die from smoking. and each of those people are being replaced by two young smokers. almost 90% of those replacement smokers smoke their first cigarette before they're 18. despite reductions in tobacco use in the past decade, today more than 600,000 middle school students smoke. stand 3 million high school students smoke cigarettes. also, nearly