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 one in three young adults, between the ages of 1 and 26, smoke. and this is the higher -- rate th

dr. david satcher, who is with us, a former surgeon general who has been involved in this effort for a lot of time. dr. howard coe, my assistant secretary for health who you'll also hear from. we have key members of the office of the assistant secretary of health staff, leadership, a wonderful team here from cdc, dr. perry, who's the author of this report who comes from texas to be with us today, and lots of you have been involved in this effort for a long time. since the first surgeon general's report on tobacco was published in 1964, the good news is we've seen a percentage of americans who smoked steadily decline. in 1965, over 42% of americans smoked. by 2004, it had fallen to just under 21%. and that's very good news. but for all the progress we've made, tobacco use remains the biggest single threat to american's health. it kills an estimated 443,000 americans every year. 443,000. and every tobacco-related death is replaced by two new smokers under the age of 25. today's report brings more troubling news. it's the first of its kind to underscore the causes and consequences of tobacco

dr. david satcher who is with us, the former surgeon general who has been involved in this effort for a long time. [applause] dr. howard koh, my assistant secretary for health who you will also hear from. we have key members of the office of the secretary of health staff, leadership, a wonderful team here from cdc, dr. perry who is the author of this report who comes from texas to be with us today and lots of you who have been involved in this effort for a long time. since the first surgeon general's report on tobacco published in 1964, the good news is we have seen a percentage of americans who smoke steadily decline. in 1965, over 42% of americans smoked. by 2004, it had fallen to just under 21% and that is very good news. but, for all the progress we have made, tobacco use remains the biggest single threat to america's health. it kills an estimated 443,000 americans every year, 443,000. every tobacco-related death is replaced by two new smokers under the age of 25. today's report rings more troubling news. the first of its kind to explore the causes and consequences of tobacco use among y

dr. david satcher to 16 surgeon general and all of this former surgeon general's further work on tobacco nationally and internationally. every surgeon general since 1964 has weighed in on the issue of tobacco and everyone is 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. and it reminds us once again that the burden of tobacco is a heavy role burden on society. the report challenges as to end the epidemic of smoking among young people and the numbers in this report are shocking. her son earlier but they're worth repeating. every day, 1200 americans die from smoking in each of those olympian with raised by two young smokers. i must 90% of those replacement smokers smoke their first cigarette by the time they're 18 and despite all the reductions and tobacco use in the past decade today, more than 600,000 middle-school students smoke and 3 million high school students smoke cigarettes. so, nearly one in three young adults between the ages of 18 and 26 smoke. this is th