Teens initially saw fewer ads for smokeless tobacco after the 1998 Smokeless Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement was signed, but exposure began rising steadily in later years, according to a new report.

UPI reported Oct. 5 that researcher Dean Krugman of the University of Georgia and colleagues found that youth exposure to smokeless-tobacco magazine ads fell from 83 percent prior to the agreement to 57 percent in 2000. But the decline didn't last.

"Exposure rates are significant and have been very stable over the past 10 years," said Krugman.

The study was reported in the American Journal of Public Health.