UNITED STATES, May 25, 2007: Smoking is forbidden in nearly three out of four U.S. households, a dramatic increase from the 43 percent of homes that prohibited smoking a decade ago, the federal government reported Thursday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which conducted the survey in 2003, said it was the first study to offer a state-by-state look at the prevalence of smoking in American homes. Utah led the nation, with people in nearly nine out of 10 homes saying smoking was never allowed. The state’s large population of Mormons, who eschew tobacco, probably contributed to that statistic, the agency said. Kentucky was in last place, with a little more than half of households sending smokers outside (or, at least, to the garage). But even in Kentucky, a major tobacco-growing state, smokers found fewer place to light up. Ten years earlier, only a quarter of the state’s households barred smoking. “That really says that people are starting to understand the hazards of secondhand smoke,” said Dr. Corinne Husten, co-author of the study and chief of the epidemiology branch of the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health.
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