Page 43 - Michael Erickson News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

I was robbed of that. >> reporter: it started with a fatal car crash. candice was behind the wheel when her brand-new saturn ion slammed into a tree on this east country road in 2004. >> this one right here. >> reporter: this is the tree you hit? >> uh-huh. >> reporter: her boyfriend, michael erickson, was in the passenger seat. he was candice's first love. >> i went through the windshield and on the hood of the car and then his face was facedown in my lap. >> reporter: the father of two young girls, michael was instantly killed. candice still bears the scar of that day. her liver lacerated, n...

You want a way to help minimize blood sugar spikes. support heart health. and your immune system. now there's new glucerna advance with three benefits in one. [ male announcer ] new glucerna advance. from the brand doctors recommend most. there's a troubling new study about smoking and it plays into the debate about income inequality. there's a clear and disturbing divide between rich and poor when it comes to smoking. take a look, americans with a high school education or lower make up 40% of the u.s. population, but they are 55% of the smokers. and, of course, that has profound and potenti...

Smoking as an outlet for pleasure because it's the only thing they have available, given they are facing so many struggles with unemployment, with, you know, being underemployed, with food insecurity, with health and wellness issues, so i think we see that with smoking. it's also important to note that tobacco companies market to these communities, as well. smoking is high among the poor, among people of color, among lgbt people because tobacco companies go for them and are pushing these products down their throat, which is why it's important that the fda regulate tobacco as best they can and ...

For public health are enormous. >> absolutely. and recently the surgeon general's report came out and celebrated this 50th anniversary from 1964, and during that time in a half a century, smoking rates have been cut in half. it's a huge success story, but we're only halfway there. there's still over 40 million americans who smoke, and we need to disrupt the status quo and make much more progress, because smoking continues to be the leading preventible cause of death in this country, and we can't just tolerate going along with a 1% or 2% reduction a year. we really need to accelerate it, and we...

Erickson, former director of the office on smoking and health at the cdc under president clinton. aisha moodie-mills, good morning to both of you. >> good morning, chris. >> michael, let me start with you. this study also shows people with money and education are quitting smoking at a much higher rate. what do you think is going on here? >> well, it's quite dramatic. first of all, higher educated, wealthier people, have always smoked less than other groups, but the rate of decline has really accelerated for the wealthy and the rich. what we've seen is, 25% reduction in smoking among those with...