41.   Such a look-back might call for expanded federal regulation of the industry if youth smoking rates are not cut.

42.   That legislation took center stage in Washington just as a new study earlier this month showed a steep rise in the smoking rate among black youth.

43.   That means the government could require a gradual reduction in nicotine content in cigarettes if smoking rates did not decline.

44.   Teenage smoking is rising nationally, he notes, and intensive ad campaigns like the one in Massachusetts have only held smoking rates steady.

45.   The belief is that the number of new smokers will almost certainly decline and smoking rates will go down.

46.   The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday that teen smoking rates increased by one-third in the past six years.

47.   The figure would be reduced by an unknown factor if smoking rates plummet in the next quarter century and related illnesses decrease as well.

48.   The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called the results one of the largest documented one-year changes in smoking rates anywhere.

49.   The industry objected that the states share responsibility for teen smoking rates through their enforcement of underage smoking laws, Gregoire said.

50.   The recent rise in smoking rates among middle-school and high-school students may be even more of a worry.