health
Drop in cigarette use offset by rise in other tobacco products
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Aug. 20, 2012
The decades-long decline in the nation’s cigarette use is being slowed by a dramatic increase in consumption of other forms of smoked tobacco, such as cigars, according to a study in the Aug. 3 issue of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Likely contributing to that uptick is the 2009 federal cigarette excise tax increase, which widened the gap between the cost of cigarettes (the most expensive) and other forms of smoked tobacco, the report said.
From 2000 to 2011, cigarette use declined 32.8% in the U.S., falling from 435.6 billion cigarettes to 292.8 billion. But during that same period, consumption of other combustible tobacco products significantly increased, climbing from 15.2 billion cigarette equivalents to 33.8 billion (link).
Researchers examined excise tax data from the U.S. Dept. of Treasury’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. Consumption estimates were calculated for cigarettes, roll-your-own tobacco, pipe tobacco, and small and large cigars.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/08/20/hlbf0820.htm.
