Surgeon General 's New Anti-Smoking Plan
B O S T O N, Aug. 9 -- Surgeon General David Satcher hopes to cut smoking in the United States by half within a decade.
Satcher presented a wide range of approaches that could help reduce Americans’ use of tobacco in a 450-page report called “Reducing Tobacco Use” released today at the 11th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health in Chicago.
Smoking rates could be cut by 50 percent overall if all the proven anti-smoking measures covered in the report were implemented, he said. These include anti-smoking campaigns, stronger warnings on cigarette packages, anti-smoking school programs, doctor-recommended treatment programs, and stronger governmental bans on indoor smoking.
Satcher said this is the first surgeon general’s report ever to deal with solutions to the problem, rather than the problem itself.
“Our lack of greater progress in tobacco control is more the result of failure to implement proven strategies than it is the lack of knowledge about what to do,” Satcher said in the report.
Tax Hike
Satcher joined world health organizations in calling for a 10 percent tax hike on cigarettes to encourage smokers to quit.
On Tuesday, the World Bank and the World Health Organization urged developing nations to tax tobacco, estimating that a 10 percent increase in the price of tobacco could motivate 42 million smokers to quit and prevent 10 million tobacco-related deaths.
Satcher noted that a $2 tax hike on tobacco products in the United States could reduce their use by 3 to 5 percent. Cigarette prices and taxes in the United States are currently well below those in most other industrialized nations, he said.
Brendan McCormick, a spokesman for Philip Morris International tobacco company, said the company disagrees with the tax hike. “Adult smokers shouldn’t be penalized for their choice to smoke,” he said.
But, he added, the company supports other facets of the report, including campaigns to deter youth smoking, and better ventilation and non-smoking sections in public facilities. “We are willing to work with the Surgeon General in reaching a common ground,” he said.
