ATLANTA - Smoking is forbidden in nearly three out of four US households, a 
dramatic increase from the 43 percent of homes that prohibited smoking a decade 
ago, the federal government reported Thursday. 
 
 
   Smoking is forbidden in nearly three out of four US 
 households, a dramatic increase from the 43 percent of homes that 
 prohibited smoking a decade ago, the federal government reported Thursday. 
 [AP] 
   | 
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, 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.
Tobin Hilliard joined the millions of Americans living in smoke-free homes 
when he moved in with his non-smoking fiancee 10 years ago. He had to abandon 
the pleasure of smoking a cigarette at the kitchen table, on the living room 
couch or in the bedroom.
"It was just understood: 'If you're lighting up, you will be stepping out 
into whatever the weather conditions are,'" said Hilliard, 35, who is still a 
pack-a-day smoker in Clermont, Fla.
The CDC report was based on a national survey done mostly by telephone every 
two years. For a household to be included in the results, everyone 15 and older 
had to respond, and they all had to agree on the smoking rules.
The survey covered 127,000 US households in 2003, the most recent year for 
which such data was available. The study looked at 900 to 7,000 homes in each 
state. Similar numbers were surveyed in previous years.
Participants were asked whether smoking was allowed everywhere in the home, 
only in some places, or not at all.
Among households with at least one smoker, the national prevalence of 
take-it-outside rules rose from about 10 percent in the early 1990s to 32 
percent in 2003. Among households with no smokers, the percentage with such 
rules rose from 57 percent to almost 84 percent.
The CDC said the increases were driven in part by scientific reports and 
other information in the last 15 years warning that secondhand smoke causes 
premature death and disease.
A growing number of state and local smoking bans in restaurants, bars and 
workplaces may also have been influential at home, Husten said.
Loyd Silberstein, a retired school teacher in California, said he smokes at 
home - but not when his children or grandchildren come over. On those occasions, 
he goes out to the backyard or garage.
"My wife says I don't care about her, just the kids," laughed Silberstein, 
75, of San Mateo.
The study was published the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
In another MMWR article this week, surveys of nearly 750,000 teens in 137 
countries and territories showed that students exposed to smoking at home were 
most likely to take up the habit themselves. 
The study found that more than 71 percent of nonsmoking students surveyed in 
Europe said they were exposed to cigarette smoke at home. The exposure was much 
lower in other parts of the world - particularly in Africa, where the statistic 
was just 23 percent.