According to a survey the number of children in Virginia who smoke cigarettes has plummeted in this decade. For example the percentage of high school students in the state who smoke has declined from 29 in 2001 to 15.5 in 2007, according to the Virginia Tobacco Settlement Foundation.

"For a state like Virginia, which has been a tobacco-growing state, that is very, very impressive," Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said.

Kaine and other officials credit the Virginia Tobacco Settlement Foundation for spending millions of dollars on education, marketing and other programs for to stop youth smoking.

The foundation provides grants to schools, nonprofit groups, and community- and faith-based organizations; advertises on radio, television and the Internet. It gives research money to state universities, including George Mason University, and works with the state to determine whether retailers are selling tobacco to underage buyers.

The Foundation aim is to prevent 73,000 children each year from becoming smokers, which they say saves the state $1.25 billion in smoking-related health costs a year.

Marty Kilgore, the Foundation Executive Director, said: "We are thrilled that tobacco use among Virginia's youth continues to be on the decline. The survey shows that tobacco prevention works and that Virginia's kids are choosing healthy lifestyles. However, we must remain ever vigilant in our goal of eliminating underage smoking."

David M. DeBiasi, director of advocacy and public education at the American Lung Association of Virginia, added that the decline in smoking rates shows that smoking cessation and prevention programs must start in middle and high schools.

"Virginia has shown remarkable progress over the past two years in its efforts to keep kids from smoking, and these new results provide additional evidence that tobacco prevention is a good investment for states," said William V. Corr, executive director of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

More than 2,600 public middle school and high school students were surveyed during the 2007-08 school year for the statewide study, conducted by the foundation, Virginia Commonwealth University and the Community Health Research Initiative. Students were asked about topics including tobacco use; accessibility of tobacco products; attitudes toward tobacco use and advertising, and other factors such as secondhand smoke exposure.

According to this research was found that 7.6 percent of high school students and 2.5 percent of middle school students report using dip, chewing tobacco or snuff.

As part of a settlement agreement between 46 states and the nation's tobacco manufacturers in 1998, Virginia is expected to receive about $4 billion over 25 years. The Foundation received 10 percent of the money for prevention, and the rest was spent on economic development and health care in the state.