Question

What further steps could be done to reduce smoking in the United States?

Answer 1

--Increasing the federal excise tax on cigarettes substantially, and boosting taxes in states with lower rates to achieve greater parity in prices nationwide and thwart interstate smuggling.
-- Dedicating $15 to $20 per capita annually of the proceeds from higher taxes or other resources to fund tobacco control efforts in each state.
-- Imposing smoking bans in all nonresidential indoor settings nationwide, including restaurants, bars, malls, prisons, and health care facilities.
-- Requiring all public and private health insurance plans to make coverage of smoking cessation programs a lifetime benefit.
-- Licensing retail outlets that sell tobacco products.
-- Launching additional efforts aimed at curbing youth interest in smoking and access to tobacco, including bans on online sales of tobacco products and direct-to-consumer shipments.
-- Changing federal law to give FDA authority to regulate tobacco products, including powers to restrict how they can be marketed.
-- Removing federal restrictions on state laws so that states are free to supplement federal regulations with more stringent measures to suppress smoking.
-- Limiting tobacco advertising and promotional displays to text-only, black-and-white formats.
-- Prohibiting tobacco companies from using misleading terms such as "mild" and "light."
-- Requiring new, large pictorial warnings on the harmful effects of smoking -- similar to those required in Canada -- on all cigarette packs and cartons.
-- Requiring manufacturers to correct false or misleading information on products and at the point of sale.
-- Restricting the type or number of outlets that can sell tobacco products, and requiring them to display warnings and give a proportional amount of space to cessation aids.
-- Prohibiting tobacco companies from targeting youth for any purpose and urging them to redirect money they now spend on prevention to independent public health organizations.
-- Developing a plan for gradually reducing the allowable nicotine content of cigarettes.