NATIONAL NEWS - Study Confirms Effectiveness of State Spending on Tobacco Prevention

February 1, 2008

A study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and an independent research institute found that increased spending by states on tobacco prevention and cessation are directly related to decreases in smoking rates.  The CDC analyzed smoking rates and tobacco control spending in all 50 states from 1995 to 2003.  The researchers found that if states had funded those programs at the levels recommended by the CDC during the years analyzed, between 2.2 million and 7.1 million fewer Americans would have been smokers by 2003, saving between 700,000 and 2.2 million lives and between $20 billion and $67 billion in health care costs.  Unfortunately, only three states funded their tobacco control programs at CDC-recommended levels last year.

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