Is it OK to smoke or is it not right to do it?

Smoking cigarettes and abortion have almost nothing to do with each other, but they still have something in common: According to some surveys that were conducted by researchers, both have rising numbers among teenagers.

A lot of young persons today do not consider it all right for people to smoke, a report affirms from the Girl Scout Research Institute called "Good Intentions: The Beliefs and Values of Teens Today." The report was made on a survey of about 3,200 youths, which updated a similar survey of 5,000 youths taken for the Girl Scouts in 1989.

Both surveys asked whether it was OK to smoke "if a person finds it enjoyable." In 1989, 27 percent of youths said smoking was OK. Two decades later, only 18 percent approved. This rejection of smoking also is seen in the Monitoring the Future surveys, which have tracked substance use by the nation's youths since the mid-1970s.

In 1975, 74 percent of high school seniors told Monitoring the Future that they had smoked at least once in their lifetimes. By 2009, this fell to a record low of 44 percent. Daily smoking among 12th-graders also has tanked, falling from 27 percent in 1975 to 11 percent in 2009.

Anyone with access to a history channel can see that cigarette smoking was once ubiquitous in America. Movie stars puffed away in scene after scene. War movies showed GIs trading cigarettes like they were gold. Millions of children made ashtrays in pottery class. "Smoke-filled rooms" were where business was conducted.

Today, smoking has been banned in movie theaters, restaurants, workplaces, most homes and cars, and even the House of Representatives' Speaker's Lobby, thanks to Speaker Nancy Pelosi.