Organic Farmer

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The proportion of U.S. adults who smoke cigarettes is at the lowest level in because at least 1965, a new study says. (Joe Raedle / Getty Pictures)

The proportion of American adults who smoke cigarettes has hit a new low, new federal information show. And amongst those who do smoke, fewer are lighting up each day, and even they are smoking fewer cigarettes.

A national well being survey performed by the Centers for Illness Handle and Prevention found that 17.8% of U.S. adults – or 42.1 million folks – have been “current cigarette smokers” in 2013. That is the lowest percentage because the annual survey began maintaining track in 1965, according to the authors of a study published Wednesday in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

But Americans still have a approaches to go to meet the nation’s Healthful People 2020 target, the study notes. That target, set by the U.S. Division of Wellness and Human Services, aims to limit the adult smoking price at no far more than 12%.

Smoking is the leading result in of premature death in the U.S., killing 480,000 Americans each year and costing the economy $ 289 billion in annual well being charges and lost productivity, the report’s authors noted.

For related articles and much more information, please pay a visit to OCA’s Genetic Engineering web page and our Millions Against Monsanto web page.

Bear in mind this name: The Mellman Group.

In my final many articles, and a quantity of earlier pieces (complete archive right here), I’ve been hugely critical of the anti-GMO political movement in America.

Whereas numerous other nations have chosen to enact complete or partial bans on GMO meals, in the US we have had what?

Anything considerably weaker. Ballot initiatives, which attempted to make GMO labels on meals mandatory.

The monotonous and soft slogans? “You have a proper to know what’s in your meals.” “The appropriate to decide on.”

All four of these ballot campaigns have failed: California, Washington, Oregon, Colorado.

Where did these dumbed-down weak slogans come from?

They have been justified as a outcome of a 2012 poll conducted for Just Label It, Gary Hirshberg’s organization.

Hirshberg supported, in election campaigns, two of Monsanto’s most influential political allies in the globe: Tom Vilsack, now the head of the US Dept. of Agriculture, and Barack Obama, who has opened the door to the largest parade of new GMO crops but permitted.

Who carried out that poll for Just Label It and Hirshberg?

A powerful PR agency primarily based in Washington DC: The Mellman Group.

In 2012, the Mellman Group’s poll yielded this outcome: 91% of the 1000 voters surveyed said they wanted GMO labeling, and this conclusion was interpreted as “consumers have a proper to know what’s in their meals.”

So that became the single mantra in the ballot measures.

Who has The Mellman Group represented? Get a load of a couple of of its clientele:

Coca Cola. Nestle. Pepsico. The FDA. The Planet Bank. Do these names imply anything unique to you?

Coca Cola, Pepsico, and Nestle had been major funders AGAINST passage of the GMO-labeling initiatives in Western states.&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp