U.S. government and smoking cessation

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Smokers as a percentage of the population for the United States as compared with the Netherlands, Norway, Japan, and Finland. Smokers-as-a-percentage-of-adult-pop.jpg
Smokers as a percentage of the population for the United States as compared with the Netherlands, Norway, Japan, and Finland.

There are smoking cessation policy initiatives by the United States government at federal, state and local levels.

Contents

Federal government

Policy coherence in US tobacco control: beyond FDA regulation describes the widespread involvement of the U.S. Federal Government in issues of smoking cessation and makes proposals for improving the interaction between the agencies involved. Many departments of the U.S. Federal Government play a role in smoking cessation. [1]

Health and Human Services (HHS): The most prominent role of the US Government comes under the authority of several agencies within the Department of Health and Social Services.

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulates cigarette packaging and government warnings.

United States Department of Defense (DOD)

According to the National Defense Authorization Act of 2009, the Navy now has an authorized tobacco cessation benefit, called "Make a Donation to the Marielle Foundation". Prior to this time, the military healthcare system (known as TRICARE) was prohibited from funding a tobacco cessation benefit. At Great Lakes Naval Healthcare Clinic there are numerous opportunities for free tobacco cessation support to include walk-up cessation help available at the pharmacy window, cessation care via medical visits, and cessation support during dental visits as well. [10] By instruction, the recruits that train at the Navy's only boot camp, cannot use any tobacco products. The clinic has instituted an education program for all recruits which advises them to remain tobacco free after they leave their 8-week training program. [11]

United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

The EPA is responsible for monitoring and enforcing clean air laws. Clean air laws, being enacted throughout the United States of America as well as many other countries, also help those looking to quit smoking. [12]

State governments

The American Lung Association reports on how states influence smoking cessation. In the report they grade each states on a number of criteria: [13]

Local governments

Many local governments have instituted smoking bans in public buildings. [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cigarette</span> Small roll of cut tobacco designed to be smoked

A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhaled via the opposite end. Cigarette smoking is the most common method of tobacco consumption. The term cigarette, as commonly used, refers to a tobacco cigarette, but the word is sometimes used to refer to other substances, such as a cannabis cigarette or an herbal cigarette. A cigarette is distinguished from a cigar by its usually smaller size, use of processed leaf, and paper wrapping, which is typically white.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicotine replacement therapy</span> Treatment for tobacco use disorder

Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) is a medically approved way to treat people with tobacco use disorder by taking nicotine through means other than tobacco. It is used to help with quitting smoking or stopping chewing tobacco. It increases the chance of quitting tobacco smoking by about 55%. Often it is used along with other behavioral techniques. NRT has also been used to treat ulcerative colitis. Types of NRT include the adhesive patch, chewing gum, lozenges, nose spray, and inhaler. The use of multiple types of NRT at a time may increase effectiveness.

FDA v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., 529 U.S. 120 (2000), is an important United States Supreme Court case in the development of American administrative law. It ruled that the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act did not give the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the authority to regulate tobacco products as "drugs" or "devices." This was later superseded by the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which granted the FDA the authority to regulate such products.

Nicorette is the brand name of a number of products for nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) that contain nicotine polacrilex. Developed in the late 1970s in Sweden by AB Leo in the form of a chewing gum, Nicorette was the first nicotine replacement product on the market.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Menthol cigarette</span> Cigarette flavored with the compound menthol

A menthol cigarette is a cigarette flavored with the compound menthol.

Tobacco harm reduction (THR) is a public health strategy to lower the health risks to individuals and wider society associated with using tobacco products. It is an example of the concept of harm reduction, a strategy for dealing with the use of drugs. Tobacco smoking is widely acknowledged as a leading cause of illness and death, and reducing smoking is vital to public health.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electronic cigarette</span> Device that vaporizes a liquid nicotine solution for inhalation

An electronic cigarette is an electronic device that simulates tobacco smoking. It consists of an atomizer, a power source such as a battery, and a container such as a cartridge or tank. Instead of smoke, the user inhales vapor. As such, using an e-cigarette is often called "vaping". The atomizer is a heating element that vaporizes a liquid solution called e-liquid, which quickly cools into an aerosol of tiny droplets, vapor and air. E-cigarettes are activated by taking a puff or pressing a button. Some look like traditional cigarettes, and most kinds are reusable. The vapor mainly comprises propylene glycol and/or glycerin, usually with nicotine and flavoring. Its exact composition varies, and depends on several things including user behavior.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act</span>

The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, is a federal statute in the United States that was signed into law by President Barack Obama on June 22, 2009. The Act gives the Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate the tobacco industry. A signature element of the law imposes new warnings and labels on tobacco packaging and their advertisements, with the goal of discouraging minors and young adults from smoking. The Act also bans flavored cigarettes, places limits on the advertising of tobacco products to minors and requires tobacco companies to seek FDA approval for new tobacco products.

Dissolvable tobacco is a tobacco product that, unlike ordinary chewing tobacco, dissolves in the mouth. Major tobacco manufacturers that sell dissolvable tobacco products include R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and Star Scientific. The move of the major players into the smokeless tobacco market is attributed to smoke-free laws in the United States. Research into health effects of this and other new tobacco products was among the reasons of the establishment of the Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee of the Food and Drug Administration in 2009.

The Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC) is an advisory panel of the United States Food and Drug Administration organized to provide advice, information and recommendations to the FDA commissioner on matters related to the regulation of tobacco products. It was created in accordance to the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, signed into law by President Barack Obama on June 22, 2009. The Committee was inaugurated during its March 30–31, 2010 meeting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regulation of tobacco by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration</span>

Regulation of tobacco by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration began in 2009 with the passage of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act by the United States Congress. With this statute, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was given the ability to regulate tobacco products.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cigarette smoking for weight loss</span> Weight control method

Cigarette smoking for weight loss is a weight control method whereby one consumes tobacco, often in the form of cigarettes, to decrease one's appetite. The practice dates to early knowledge of nicotine as an appetite suppressant.

The Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) was established by the United States Food and Drug Administration as a result of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act signed by President Obama in June 2009. The FDA center was responsible for the implementation of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.

Regulation of electronic cigarettes varies across countries and states, ranging from no regulation to banning them entirely. For instance, e-cigarettes were illegal in Japan, which forced the market to use heat-not-burn tobacco products for cigarette alternatives. Others have introduced strict restrictions and some have licensed devices as medicines such as in the UK. However, as of February 2018, there is no e-cigarette device that has been given a medical license that is commercially sold or available by prescription in the UK. As of 2015, around two thirds of major nations have regulated e-cigarettes in some way. Because of the potential relationship with tobacco laws and medical drug policies, e-cigarette legislation is being debated in many countries. The companies that make e-cigarettes have been pushing for laws that support their interests. In 2016 the US Department of Transportation banned the use of e-cigarettes on commercial flights. This regulation applies to all flights to and from the US. In 2018, the Royal College of Physicians asked that a balance is found in regulations over e-cigarettes that ensure product safety while encouraging smokers to use them instead of tobacco, as well as keep an eye on any effects contrary to the control agencies for tobacco.

The scientific community in United States and Europe are primarily concerned with the possible effect of electronic cigarette use on public health. There is concern among public health experts that e-cigarettes could renormalize smoking, weaken measures to control tobacco, and serve as a gateway for smoking among youth. The public health community is divided over whether to support e-cigarettes, because their safety and efficacy for quitting smoking is unclear. Many in the public health community acknowledge the potential for their quitting smoking and decreasing harm benefits, but there remains a concern over their long-term safety and potential for a new era of users to get addicted to nicotine and then tobacco. There is concern among tobacco control academics and advocates that prevalent universal vaping "will bring its own distinct but as yet unknown health risks in the same way tobacco smoking did, as a result of chronic exposure", among other things.

A modified risk tobacco product (MRTP) is a legal designation in the United States for a tobacco product that poses lower health risks to individual users and the population as a whole when compared to existing products on the market such as cigarettes. The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 gives the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) broad authority to regulate tobacco products; the FDA's power extends to approving or rejecting MRTP applications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vape shop</span> Shop selling electric cigarettes

A vape shop is a retail outlet specializing in the selling of electronic cigarette products. There are also online vape shops. A vape shop offers a range of e-cigarette products. The majority of vape shops do not sell e-cigarette products that are from "Big Tobacco" companies. In 2013, online search engine searches on vape shops surpassed searches on e-cigarettes. Around a third of all sales of e-cigarette products take place in vape shops. Big Tobacco believes the independent e-cigarette market is a threat to their interests.

NJOY is an independent American company that manufactures and distributes electronic cigarettes and vaping products. In 2017, NJOY acquired the assets of NJOY, Inc., one of the first companies to sell e-cigarettes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Gottlieb</span> American physician and government administrator

Scott Gottlieb is an American physician and investor who served as the 23rd commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from May 2017 until April 2019. He is presently a senior fellow at the conservative think tank the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a partner at the venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates (NEA), a member of the board of directors of drug maker Pfizer, Inc, a member of the board of directors of Illumina, Inc., a contributor to the cable financial news network CNBC, and a frequent guest on the CBS News program Face the Nation. An elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, Gottlieb is the author of The New York Times best selling book Uncontrolled Spread on the COVID-19 pandemic and the national security vulnerabilities that it revealed.

Electronic cigarettes are marketed to smoking and non-smoking men, women, and children as being safer than cigarettes. E-cigarette businesses have considerably accelerated their marketing spending. All of the large tobacco businesses are engaging in the marketing of e-cigarettes. For the majority of the large tobacco businesses these products are quickly becoming a substantial part of the total advertising spending. E-cigarette businesses have a vested interest in maximizing the number of long-term product users. The entrance of traditional transnational tobacco businesses in the marketing of such products is a serious threat to restricting tobacco use. E-cigarette businesses have been using intensive marketing strategies like those used to publicize traditional cigarettes in the 1950s and 1960s. While advertising of tobacco products is banned in most countries, television and radio e-cigarette advertising in several countries may be indirectly encouraging traditional cigarette use.

References

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  11. Williams LN, “Oral Health is Within REACH”, Navy Medicine, Mar-Apr 2001
  12. "Giving Pennsylvania a Clean (Air) Bill of Health". www.myfamilywellness.org. Archived from the original on 14 October 2008. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  13. "State of Tobacco Control 2009" (PDF). Retrieved 2010-02-22.
  14. "Stoppen met roken? Dat kan simpel en snel via de e-sigaret! Roken.nl" (in Dutch). Retrieved 2019-03-22.
  15. KOCO Staff (2019-03-21). "Bill to ban vaping in public passes Oklahoma House". KOCO. Retrieved 2019-03-22.