Smoke-Free Workplaces More Effective than TaxesJuly 26, 2002
Research Summary
A University of California at San Francisco study shows that smoke-free workplaces are more effective in getting smokers to quit than increases in state cigarette taxes, MSNBC reported July 25."We found that smoke-free workplaces are associated with a decrease in prevalence of tobacco consumption by nearly 4 percent, a decrease not due to underlying secular trends in prevalence," said Stanton Glantz, lead researcher on the study.
Glantz and colleague Caroline Fichtenberg reviewed 26 studies on the impact of smoke-free workplaces. They found that smoking bans in workplaces significantly reduced cigarette sales.
Researchers estimated that tobacco-industry revenue would be cut by $1.7 billion in the United States each year if smoking bans were implemented in all work environments.
The researchers said that a pack of cigarettes would have to cost an average of $3.05 nationally in order to achieve the same impact as smoke-free environments.
In addition, the study found that smoke-free environments are effective in preventing teens from smoking and encouraging them to quit. "Teenagers who worked in totally smoke-free work sites were 68 percent as likely to ever smoke than those who worked in less restricted work sites," said Glantz.
The study's findings are published in the July 27 edition of the British Medical Journal.
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