New statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) show Utah and Nevada (so close in proximity, so
distant in life-style) at the top and bottom, respectively, of a
ranking of states by smoking-related mortality (see table). The
Center hopes that release of the statistics will spur tobacco
control efforts, including higher state excise taxes on
cigarettes. In 1990, smoking accounted for more than 400,000
deaths nationwide, say David E. Nelson, md, mph, and colleagues
from the CDC's Office on Smoking and Health, National Center for
Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Yet state-
specific data, which states can use to document the magnitude of
smoking-related health problems, had not been compiled since
1985. The new report provides state-specific cigarette smoking
prevalence, smoking-attributable mortality (SAM), and years of
potential life lost (YPLL) for 1990. The figures were estimated
by using a special software package--Smoking-Attributable
Mortality, Morbidity, and Economi