ATLANTA - The number of U.S. high school student smokers continues to drop, but at a much slower rate, according to a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The agency will not realize its goal of lowering the number of teen smokers to 16 percent in 2010, HealthDay News reports. Currently, 20 percent of high school students smoke.

"The rate of change started slowing in 2003, and in some groups of students has totally stopped and is almost not declining at all," said Terry F. Pechacek, associate director for science at the CDC??s Office on Smoking and Health. Pechacek is the lead author on the study. "The only group in which we are seeing a decline is in African-American females," he said.

The numbers have not decrease significantly lately, partly because "we have taken our eye off the issue," said Pechacek. "Sometimes, we get complacent with our success and move on to other things."

States have slashed tobacco education and cessation budgets significantly, which has contributed to the smoking rate, Pechacek said. He also accused the tobacco industry of going after teens. "The industry has been left with the only voice out there with their $12 billion campaign," said Pechacek.

The CDC points to strong anti-smoking initiatives that include smoke-free laws and higher cigarette taxes as a way to combat teen smoking. "The ability to shut off the inflow of new smokers is critical," he said. "The fact that we have had a stall has dramatic implications for the future."

The CDC report found that close to 28 percent of high school students said they "currently smoked," in 1991. Six years later, that percentage had jumped to 36.4 percent. By 2003, teens who smoked had dropped dramatically to 21.9 percent. But the falling rate slowed in the years since, with 19.5 percent of teens smoking in 2009.

The complete findings appear in the July 9 edition of the CDC??s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Read more on how convenience stores are combating teen smoking in NACS Magazine.