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To save the lives of 5.6 million children from tobacco use, more aggressive actions must be taken, expert explains

Date:
December 16, 2014
Source:
Georgia State University
Summary:
Officials must use policy, tax and other regulatory tools to stem youth smoking and health effects of tobacco use, experts say. The 2014 Surgeon General's Report on tobacco use concluded that if more is not done to combat tobacco use, 5.6 million youth under age 18 in 2012 will die prematurely from a smoking-related illness.
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A Georgia State University expert said today that to prevent the deaths of 5.6 million children, strong actions are needed to discourage smoking, raise the cost of cigarettes, provide access to tobacco cessation programs, and to implement the Food and Drug Administration's power to regulate tobacco products, among other steps.

Dr. Terry Pechacek, Professor of Health Management and Policy at the Georgia State School of Public Health, outlined the way forward in reducing the burden of death and disease from tobacco use during the Interagency Committee on Smoking and Health meeting in Washington on reducing tobacco use by youth and young adults.

The 2014 Surgeon General's Report on tobacco use concluded that if more is not done to combat tobacco use, 5.6 million youth under age 18 in 2012 will die prematurely from a smoking-related illness.

"High levels of smoking-attributable disease and death costs will persist for decades into the 21st century unless more rapid progress is made in tobacco control," Pechacek said. "The current burden is unacceptable."

Pechacek said that since the cigarette has been found to be "a defective and unreasonably dangerous product," the quickest solution would be for the tobacco industry to act responsibly and stop selling these lethal products. However, since this is not happening, we need FDA regulations to quickly make tobacco products less addictive, less appealing, and less harmfull.

Unfortuntately, this process is taking time. While FDA regulations move slowly forward, Pechacek outlined what other high impact actions should be implemented:

• Raise the average of the price of a pack of cigarettes to $10 to deter youth and adults from purchasing the product, through state and federal excise taxes

• Extend comprehensive smoke-free indoor protections to the entire U.S. population

• Use the Affordable Care Act's expansion of health care access to provide barrier-free, proven tobacco cessation treatment

• Fully fund comprehensive statewide tobacco control programs

• Widen smoking cessation for all smokers by having health care providers and systems examine how they can create a strong standard of care for effective treatments

• Counteract tobacco industry marketing through high-impact media campaigns sustained for 10 years • Expand tobacco control and prevention research

"If all of these strategies were applied, we can project that all 5.6 million youth could be saved from the premature deaths from illnesses caused by tobacco use," Pechacek said.


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Materials provided by Georgia State University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Cite This Page:

Georgia State University. "To save the lives of 5.6 million children from tobacco use, more aggressive actions must be taken, expert explains." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 16 December 2014. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/12/141216154618.htm>.
Georgia State University. (2014, December 16). To save the lives of 5.6 million children from tobacco use, more aggressive actions must be taken, expert explains. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 18, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/12/141216154618.htm
Georgia State University. "To save the lives of 5.6 million children from tobacco use, more aggressive actions must be taken, expert explains." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/12/141216154618.htm (accessed March 18, 2024).

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