Tobacco.org

Study Suggests Stronger Tobacco Control Policies in States With High Smoking Rates Would be Effective in Reducing Smoking and Saving Thousands of Lives 

According to new research findings published today in the Southern Medical Journal, if Kentucky fails to implement and enforce strong tobacco control policies more than 17,000 state residents will needlessly die prematurely from smoking over just the next fifteen to twenty years. Kentucky currently has the highest adult smoking rate in the United States. Kentucky also has weak public policies addressing smoking, with a cigarette tax ranked 46th of all states and tobacco control expenditures ranked 39th among states.

Using a model called SimSmoke, researchers from the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation studied the effect such policies can have on future smoking prevalence and smoking-attributable deaths in Kentucky. SimSmoke is a computer simulation of tobacco control policy effects developed by David Levy, Ph.D., the study's author and a senior research scientist at PIRE. . . .

The model examined the impact of tobacco control policies specifically recommended in the Healthy People 2010 goals,

Jump to full article »