Today, as in every other day of the year, more than 3,000 U.S. adolescents will smoke their first cigarette on their way to becoming regular smokers as adults. During their lifetime, it can be expected that of these 3,000 about 23 will be murdered, 30 will die in traffic accidents, and nearly 750 will be killed by a smoking-related disease. The number of deaths due to cigarette smoking outweighs all other factors, whether voluntary or involuntary, as a cause of death. Since the late 1970s, when daily smoking among high school seniors reached 30 percent, smoking rates among youth have declined. While the decline is impressive, several important issues must be raised. First, in the past several years, smoking rates among youth have declined very little. Second, in the late 1970s, smoking among male high school seniors beat that among female by nearly 10 percent . The statistic is reversing  . Third, several recent studies have indicate high school _ have excessively high smoking rates, as much as 75 percent . Finally, though significant declines in adolescent smoking have occurred in the past decade, no definite reasons for the decline exist. Within this context, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) began its current effort to determine the most effective measures to reduce smoking level among youth. What is implied by the author is that   _  .
smoking rates among youth have declined very little there are now more female than male smokers among high school seniors high smoking rates are due to the increase in wealth smoking at high school are from low socio-economic backgrounds