Tobacco
The Burden of Tobacco Use and Secondhand Smoke
Smoking kills 25,500 people every year in New York State. Secondhand smoke kills 2,500 New Yorkers every year. Every year 570,000 New Yorkers are afflicted with serious disease caused by smoking. It is projected that 389,000 New York State youth age 0-17 will die from smoking.
Who We Are
The New York State Department of Health Tobacco Control Program (NYTCP) implements evidence-based and promising strategies to prevent and reduce tobacco use. The NYTCP envisions a tobacco-free society for all New Yorkers. The program began in January 2000, and is built on a foundation of community partners using evidence-based strategies from the Guide to Community Preventive Services to decrease tobacco use. Over time, the program has effectively implemented a strong clean indoor air law, maintained support for high tobacco taxes to keep the price of tobacco high, and worked to increase access to effective cessation services and motivate smokers to try to quit. As a result of programmatic efforts, youth and adult smoking rates are at their lowest levels on record.
2010 Goal
- One Million Fewer Smokers by 2010 (PDF, 4.17MB, 12pg.)
By 2010, there will be one million more smoke-free New Yorkers living healthier, happier, richer lives. The Tobacco Control Program will do this by:
- encouraging 900,000 adult smokers to quit
- preventing 100,000 youth who are on track to smoke to not start
What We Do
- Use the most current research findings to drive program activities.
- Work collaboratively with state and national partners to ensure program goals are met.
- Implement hard hitting, emotionally evocative media campaigns to push smokers into cessation, educate the public about the dangers of second hand smoke and expose the deceptive practices of the tobacco industry.
- Implement policy changes to push smokers to cessation, keep the price of tobacco products high and implement tobacco dependence screening and treatment in all health-care settings.
Priority Issues
- Eliminate exposure to secondhand smoke for all New Yorkers.
- Decrease the social acceptability of tobacco use.
- Promote cessation from tobacco use.
- Prevent the initiation of tobacco use among youth and young adults.
- Build and maintain an effective tobacco control infrastructure.
- Contribute to the science of tobacco control.