Tobacco Remains the Biggest Public Health Threat for Youth
Despite a substantial decline in the prevalence of smoking in the past 4 decades, tobacco use continues to be a leading cause of death in the United States. An estimated 440,000 deaths per year are caused by tobacco use each year, and another 50,000 deaths are caused by exposure to secondhand smoke. One in five U.S. adults is a smoker and almost all of them began smoking as teenagers. The economic consequences of tobacco use are in the billions of dollars. Tobacco use remains an extremely significant threat to public health and is especially dangerous to the health and futures of young people.
Concerns about diminished tobacco control efforts prompted the American Legacy Foundation to request that the Institute of Medicine convene a committee to explore tobacco control interventions, policies, and other measures and to develop a blueprint for the nation to reduce tobacco use so substantially that it is no longer a significant public health threat. The 14-member committee focused their efforts on reducing cigarette use.
Factors Perpetuating the Tobacco Problem
Tobacco contains nicotine, one of the most addictive substances used by humans. Overcoming addiction and dealing with symptoms of withdrawal makes quitting smoking extremely difficult for smokers. Youth face additional challenges relating to social factors and peer influences from friends and family who smoke. This type of social impact often leads youth to distorted perceptions of risk and harm, overriding previous knowledge of the dangers of smoking.
The Blueprint
The committee’s blueprint, published in the report Ending the Tobacco Problem: A Blueprint for the Nation, aims to both (1) strengthen and support the implementation of tobacco control measures known to be effective and (2) strengthen tobacco control policy.
Certain state tobacco control programs have been shown to have great success in reducing tobacco use. Increasing the tobacco excise tax is one such measure. Raising the price of a pack of cigarettes through excise taxes has been shown to cause a significant decrease in smoking. Teen smoking, in particular, is affected by cigarette price. There is currently no regulation of tobacco taxes between states, and federal tobacco excise taxes remain among the lowest of any industrialized nation. Further, the committee recommends a complete ban on smoking in all nonresidential indoor locations, including workplaces, schools, malls, restaurants, and bars.
The committee acknowledges that school-based programs are and should remain the mainstay of group tobacco prevention activities for youth. The committee recommends that school boards require all middle and high schools to adopt evidence-based smoking prevention programs and implement them with fidelity. In-school programs should be reinforced with public activities and mass media campaigns.
To strengthen federal tobacco policy, the committee recommends that Congress award broad tobacco control authority to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA would then be able regulate the design and characteristics of tobacco products and create new graphic warnings for all tobacco packaging. Licensing of all retail outlets that sell tobacco and legislation to limit tobacco advertising are among other tobacco policy change recommendations.
A complete list of the committee’s recommendations is available online. The full report is currently in prepublication status, but is available for purchase. For additional information, please contact:
Institute of Medicine
500 Fifth Street NW
Washington DC 20001
Phone: 202.334.2352
Fax: 202.334.1412
Email: iomwww@nas.edu
Website: www.iom.edu
Source: Ending the Tobacco Problem: A Blueprint for the Nation, Institute of Medicine, 2007; Tobacco Still Biggest Health Threat for Kids, Health and Health Care in Schools, Vol 8, No 4, June/July 2007.