Canadian smoking rate drops to 18 percent

A national tobacco use monitoring survey found 18 percent of Canadians age 15 or older were active smokers in 2008, Canadian Cancer Society officials said.

Officials say the Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey indicates that national smoking rates also declined by 1 percent after remaining stable at 19 percent in the previous three years. The smoking rate of Canadian teens ages 15-19 is 15 percent, or 300,000 teens, for the second year in a row, the report said.

The rate of children exposed to second-hand smoke varies among different provinces.

Quebec has the highest rate of children and teens ages 0-17 who are regularly exposed to second-hand smoke at home at 14.5 percent, compared to 8 percent nationally. However, in Ontario, 5 percent of children and teens are regularly exposed to second-hand smoke, with 4 percent exposed to second-hand smoke in British Columbia.