Start spreadin' the news -- in Harrisburg. Smoking has dropped sharply in New York City since aggressive efforts to curb the unhealthy habit began. The finding by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is proof -- if any were needed -- that concerted, continual efforts to reduce smoking produce real results.

After a decade of almost no progress in the fight to reduce smoking, the number of adult smokers in New York City fell from 21.6 percent in 2002, when the city began its smoking crackdown, to just 17.5 percent last year. According to the CDC, there were 240,000 fewer smokers in the city in 2006 than there were four years earlier.

New York launched its effort in 2002 with a combination of higher cigarette taxes, smoke-free environments and forceful education campaigns. Five years ago New York raised taxes on cigarettes to then the highest level in the United States, boosting the retail price of a pack by 32 percent.

A year later the city introduced smoke-free workplaces. By 2004 the percentage of smoking adults in New York City declined to 18.4 percent. But when the downward trend in smoking appeared to level off in 2005, the city embarked on a year-long TV campaign to encourage more smokers to quit.

It worked in the Big Apple. It can work in Pennsylvania, too.