Smoking Rate Down Among Staten Island Residents

The smoking rate among Staten Island residents dropped 25% last year, city health officials announced yesterday. Officials said the decrease, to 20.4% in 2007 from 27.2% in 2006, represents about 22,000 fewer smokers. The decrease was announced by Mayor Bloomberg, the speaker of the City Council, Christine Quinn, and the city's health commissioner, Dr. Thomas Frieden.

City health officials said it is the first time the smoking rate in Staten Island has dropped since the city launched aggressive anti-smoking programs, including a smoking ban that took effect in the city's bars and restaurants in 2003. Smoking rates have already dropped in the other boroughs.

About 1 million New Yorkers smoke, but about 300,000 have quit since 2002, officials said.