Source: CNN
Author: Ann Curley

In 2007, the Institute of Medicine, the medical branch of the National Academy of Sciences, released “Ending the Tobacco Problem: A Blueprint for the Nation,” stating a goal of eliminating smoking as a public health problem in the United States. The strategies included strengthening and fully activating tobacco control methods similar to the CDC’s plans, as well as tobacco regulation.

In 2008, the World Health Organization’s MPOWER program outlined additional steps that complemented and reinforced the other agencies’ recommendations.

As an example of the success of these strategies, the CDC cites the state of California, which has one of the oldest comprehensive tobacco control programs. California cut adult smoking rates from 22.7 percent in 1988 to 13.3 percent in 2006. That reduction in smoking accelerated the decline of heart disease deaths and lung cancer incidence in California, compared with the rest of the country.

In 2009, 14 states and the District of Columbia implemented an excise tax on cigarettes. Those state tax hikes followed a 62-cent federal cigarette tax hike instituted by Congress in April 2009.

Twenty-four states and D.C. have comprehensive smoke-free laws. Seven states do not have statewide smoke-free laws of any type: Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, West Virginia and Wyoming.

While some progress has been made in getting more states to implement tobacco control measures, the report stresses that much more is still needed.

The CDC’s Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs 2007 noted that states could plan and enact tobacco control programs with a small percentage of tobacco excise tax revenues and funds from a 1998 agreement between states’ attorneys general and the four largest tobacco companies.

The report concludes that putting uniform tobacco control policies in place would dramatically reduce the health and economic burden on states.

“The first step is knowledge, knowing what the issues are,” Frieden said. “We need to act.”