As
the United States marks the 50
th
anniversary of the first Surgeon General's Report on Smoking and
Health, seven leading public health and medical organizations today
called for bold action by all levels of government to achieve three goals:
- Reduce smoking rates, currently at about 18 percent, to less than 10 percent within 10 years;
- Protect all Americans from American Academy of
Pediatrics, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American
Heart Association, American Lung Association, Americans for Nonsmokers'
Rights, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and Legacy within five years; and
- Ultimately eliminate the death and disease caused by tobacco use.
The
seven groups issuing the call to action are the American Academy of
Pediatrics, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American
Heart Association, American Lung Association, Americans for Nonsmokers'
Rights, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and Legacy®.
These seven organizations issued the following joint statement:
The first Surgeon General's Report on Smoking and Health, issued on January 11, 1964, was a historic turning point in the nation's fight against tobacco use. Our organizations celebrate the remarkable progress of the past 50 years. The United States
has cut smoking rates by more than half (from 42.4 percent in 1965 to
18 percent today) and per capita consumption of cigarettes by more than
70 percent.
While smoking was allowed almost everywhere in 1964, today
nearly half the nation's population is protected by smoke-free laws that
apply to all workplaces, restaurants and bars. Reductions in smoking
have saved millions of lives and are responsible for 30 percent of the
increase in the life expectancy of Americans since 1964, according to a
study published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
The fight against tobacco has been a tremendous public health achievement. However,
the battle is far from over. Tobacco use is still the number one cause
of preventable death in the United States. Smoking kills more than
440,000 Americans each year, sickens millions more and costs the nation $193 billion
annually in health care expenditures and lost productivity. About 44
million adults still smoke, and more than 3,000 kids try their first
cigarette each day. It is unacceptable that tobacco still kills so many
Americans, lures so many children, devastates so many families and
places such a huge burden on our nation's health care system.
Over
the past 50 years, we have developed proven strategies that can achieve
these goals if they are fully and effectively implemented. These
strategies include tobacco tax increases, comprehensive smoke-free
workplace laws, hard-hitting mass media campaigns, health insurance
coverage to ensure smokers have access to quit-smoking treatments, and
well-funded, sustained programs to prevent kids from smoking and help
smokers quit. In 2009, these measures were supplemented with a powerful
new tool when the Food and Drug Administration was granted authority to
regulate the manufacturing, marketing and sale of tobacco products, for
the first time empowering a federal agency to rein in the tobacco
industry's harmful practices.
We have the tools to end the tobacco epidemic for good. We cannot afford to wait another 50 years.
SOURCE: Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
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