| The pair published
"Stealing a March in the 21st Century: Accelerating Progress in the
100-Year War Against Tobacco Addiction in the United States" in the July
issue of the American Journal of Public Health. Michael Fiore and
Timothy Baker, director and associate director of the University of
Wisconsin-Madison Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention (UW-CTRI),
respectively, chart milestones in beating tobacco addiction and map a
battle plan to eradicate tobacco use in the next few decades. The
researchers analyzed data from the 1960s, when the first systemic
tracking of smoking rates began, until the present.
"Numerous observers have claimed over time that
tobacco use has plateaued and progress against its use has stalled," the
authors write. "However, the remarkable decline in rates of tobacco use
since the 1960s belies this claim and underscores the remarkable success
of tobacco control efforts to date."
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention show adults smoking between 1965 and 2007 dropped by an
average of one half of one percentage point per year, from 42 percent to
the current rate of about 20 percent rate. While this rate of decline
hasn't occurred each year, the overall decrease has been quite steady.
The two researchers urge a nationwide effort designed
to accelerate the rate of decline over the next 50 years through:
- Substantial increases in federal and state
tobacco excise taxes.
- A national clean-indoor air law.
- Elimination of nicotine from tobacco products.
- Funds for an aggressive mass media campaign to
counter the tide of tobacco industry ads and sponsorships.
- A ban on tobacco advertising, promotion and
sponsorship.
- Evidence-based counseling and medication for
every smoker who wants to quit.
Protecting young people, particularly those 17 and
younger, from starting to smoke. Research shows that a major genetic
risk for lifelong nicotine dependence can be suppressed if young people
avoid daily smoking prior to age 17.
"The progress made in reducing tobacco use over the
last 50 years should in no way temper our commitment to further
reductions. Nor should that progress be interpreted to mean tobacco use
is less toxic or that tobacco companies are now on the ropes. But, if
appropriate steps are taken, a tobacco-free nation can be achieved
within a few decades," Fiore says.
Past success has been born of:
- Tobacco tax increases.
- Enactment of clean-indoor air laws.
- Tobacco industry advertising restrictions.
- Tobacco product-labeling requirements.
- Policies that restrict youth access to tobacco
products.
- Mass media campaigns.
- Increased availability and effectiveness of
treatments to help current smokers quit.
In their article, Baker and Fiore called for FDA
regulation of tobacco products to spur progress. That bill was signed
into law on June 22, along with provisions that would further restrict
tobacco industry targeting of kids, strengthen health warnings on
tobacco packaging, require disclosure about what's in tobacco products
and ban terms like "light" and "mild" to describe cigarettes.
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