A CDC report shows that around 20 percent adults smoked last year that was far short of government objective of 12 percent.

Experts at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that the US wouldn’t succeed to meet its Healthy People 2010 objective of decreasing the adult smoking rate to 12% or less.

Several CDC studies, released on Thursday, seem to suggest that this failure means high levels of smoking-related health issues, deaths and productivity lost.

In US, smoking is counted for a leading cause of preventable death and disease; however, inclusive tobacco control programs can prevent millions of premature deaths in the country.

In one study, the researchers examined data from the 2007 National Health Interview survey, and they found that around 19.8 percent of American adults were smokers and this level was a bit lower than 20.8% in 2006, 20.9% in 2005 and 20.9% in 2004.

But, observing the current trends, it seems that the United States wouldn’t be able to achieve its 2010 target, the researchers stated.

The same study found that 39.8 % adult smokers who wanted to quit smoking could stop smoking for one day or more in the last 12 months.