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US agency proposes 10 point plan to cut smoking
British Medical Journal ^
| 2/28/04
| Charles Marwick
Posted on 02/26/2004 6:40:03 PM PST by qam1
A US government agency has drawn up a comprehensive plan to encourage five million Americans to stop smoking. The Interagency Committee on Smoking and Health, which developed the 10 point plan over 14 months, has proposed increasing the tax on a pack of cigarettes by $2 (£1; 1.60).
Details of the national plan for tobacco cessation are published in the American Journal of Public Health (2004;94:205-10), and the plan was endorsed by four former US surgeons generalJesse Steinfeld, Julius Richmond, C Everett Koop, and David Satcherat a press conference last week in Washington, DC. The $2 tax is estimated to bring in $28bn, half of which would go toward funding parts of the plan. Studies have shown that increasing tax on tobacco discourages use.
Besides the tax increase the recommendations include universal access to smoking cessation programmes, adequate training to ensure that effective cessation treatment is provided, media campaigns to discourage smoking, insurance coverage to encourage cessation among people covered by federal insurance programmes such as Medicare and Medicaid, programmes for treating tobacco dependency, and establishing a national counselling and support service for people trying to stop smoking.
This last recommendation was immediately taken up by the health and human services secretary, Tommy Thompson, who announced that $25m would be dedicated to a toll free national "quitline" to be set up by the end of the year. It would be an access point for smokers who want to quit, he said.
The plan would also encourage health insurers and employers, among others, to foster tobacco cessation efforts as part of their benefits and provide for the effective use of tobacco dependency treatment
The plan was drafted by the interagency committees subcommittee on cessation, which is headed by Dr Michael Fiore of the University of Wisconsin Medical School in Madison.
Referring to the need to address smoking Dr Fiore drew a parallel with the way the United States handled the polio outbreaks of the 1950s. "Only through a significant commitment, including federal funds, were we able to eradicate polio," he said.
Unlike polio, there was no vaccine against tobacco dependence, he said. "But we do have many effective treatments that can help people break free of their addiction to tobacco. This plan, if implemented, will make these treatments readily available to anyone in the country who wants to quit smoking."
TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: addiction; antismokinggnatzies; health; nannystate; pufflist; rinos; smoking; stench; stinkysmokers; tobacco; tommythompson; worldismyashtray; yellowrottingteeth
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1
posted on
02/26/2004 6:40:04 PM PST
by
qam1
To: *puff_list; lockjaw02; Madame Dufarge; SheLion; Gabz; Flurry; CSM; Max McGarrity; Mears; ...
Tommy Thompson is a fat, Tubby, Fascist
PING
2
posted on
02/26/2004 6:42:57 PM PST
by
qam1
(Are Republicans the party of Reagan or the party of Bloomberg and Pataki?)
To: qam1; SheLion
This oughta be good... *cough* NOT.
SheLion, a ping for your thoughts?
3
posted on
02/26/2004 6:43:07 PM PST
by
KangarooJacqui
(I'm not a Sheila - I'm a FReeper who happens to be Australian, and female.)
To: qam1
damn, beaten to it by mere seconds... :-)
4
posted on
02/26/2004 6:43:58 PM PST
by
KangarooJacqui
(I'm not a Sheila - I'm a FReeper who happens to be Australian, and female.)
To: qam1
The AMA has also proposed a 20-point plan to stop people from picking their noses...
(hint: it involves 10 fingers, 10 toes, and a pair of snips)
5
posted on
02/26/2004 6:49:23 PM PST
by
theDentist
(Boston: So much Liberty, you can buy a Politician already owned by someone else.)
To: qam1
I wonder if any of these lunatics have ever smoked. A campaign add? DUH, like that'll do any good. Besides, if everyone that smokes, stopped, the country would probably go bankrupt! What would they do without all our money?
To: qam1
I'm really, really tired of being hectored by my inferiors.
7
posted on
02/26/2004 6:52:06 PM PST
by
metesky
("Brethren, leave us go amongst them." Rev. Capt. Samuel Johnston Clayton - Ward Bond- The Searchers)
To: qam1
OK - 5 million will (supposedly) quit smoking....$2 a pack......Let's say 1 pack a day smoker......That's $10 million a day they want to lose????
I don't think so..........
I'd like to know what some of these people that come up with some of this crapola are smoking - because it sure as heck ain't tobacco.
8
posted on
02/26/2004 7:01:42 PM PST
by
Gabz
(The tobacco industry doesn't pay the MSA - smokers do!)
To: qam1
Studies have shown that increasing tax on tobacco discourages use.They still run with that old story. Wonder why they never tell us who does these studies.
9
posted on
02/26/2004 7:05:35 PM PST
by
Great Dane
(You can smoke just about everywhere in Denmark.)
To: qam1
I missed thislittle gem in my first read:
This last recommendation was immediately taken up by the health and human services secretary, Tommy Thompson, who announced that $25m would be dedicated to a toll free national "quitline" to be set up by the end of the year.
$25 million???? That wil beoutsourced to where???
The tollfree "quitline" provided by the state of Delaware is answered by some outfit in Texas. At least it's not India, but it sure isn't in Delaware.......and all they do is refer callers to programs that cost even more money.
It's Lent and so I am behaving myself.........
10
posted on
02/26/2004 7:06:33 PM PST
by
Gabz
(The tobacco industry doesn't pay the MSA - smokers do!)
To: KangarooJacqui
damn, beaten to it by mere seconds... :-)LOL, you have to be quick around here.
11
posted on
02/26/2004 7:07:14 PM PST
by
Great Dane
(You can smoke just about everywhere in Denmark.)
To: qam1
What we need is a 10-point plan to cut US Agencies. Then do it.
12
posted on
02/26/2004 7:09:15 PM PST
by
Hank Rearden
(Never let your life be directed by people who could only get government jobs.)
To: Hank Rearden
Now, that's a good idea!!!!!!!!!
13
posted on
02/26/2004 7:13:29 PM PST
by
Gabz
(The tobacco industry doesn't pay cigarette taxes - smokers do!)
To: Gabz
Now, that's a good idea!!!!!!!!!
Indeed it is. I'll drink to it!
14
posted on
02/26/2004 7:15:43 PM PST
by
KangarooJacqui
(I'm not a Sheila - I'm a FReeper who happens to be Australian, and female.)
To: KangarooJacqui
And I'll join you.
15
posted on
02/26/2004 7:23:03 PM PST
by
Gabz
(The tobacco industry doesn't pay cigarette taxes - smokers do!)
To: qam1
Only the Soviet Union formed "committees" to form the lowly Russians into the "perfect Soviet man". Now America has them.
To: Gabz
This upsets me SO much I'll have to have another smoke!
17
posted on
02/26/2004 7:28:07 PM PST
by
tbird5
To: Gabz
Pour me one too! Puff.
To: tbird5
Really? Then I'll join you!!!
19
posted on
02/26/2004 7:56:11 PM PST
by
Gabz
(The tobacco industry doesn't pay cigarette taxes - smokers do!)
To: qam1
Fabricators! If they truly wanted to stop folks from smoking, all they gotta do is make it illegal.
So at 52 and a smoker that has had no health problems, it looks like I can expect that any illness I may encounter in my golden years will be denied by medicare, be it a nasty ingrown toenail,arthritis, etc., as I must have gotten it due to my smoking.
20
posted on
02/26/2004 7:57:30 PM PST
by
uvular
(Something stinks, and it's not the litterbox)
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