Newswise — A study funded by New York Tobacco Control Program indicates that the implementation of intervention programs and New York state's Clean Indoor Air Act has reduced tobacco use among youths and adults.
The study, conducted by researchers at RTI International, found that the percentage of New Yorkers that smoke dropped by 13 percent " or more than 300,000 fewer smokers" from 2003 to 2004. During that same time period the national smoking rate dropped by only 3 percent.
These statistics suggest that the tobacco control program's interventions combined with significant policy changes, significantly reduce tobacco use.
The report showed that the Clean Indoor Air Act has had a significant impact on bar and restaurant workers' exposure to secondhand smoke while having no adverse effects on sales.
"This report further demonstrates that changes in policies and programs can affect behaviors," said Mathew Farrelly, Ph.D., RTI's principal investigator for the study. "When the Clean Indoor Air Act was first implemented, there were pockets of resistance and some vocal opponents, but the report shows that compliance with the law is actually very high. In fact, in the past two years the support for the law has increased significantly among both smokers and nonsmokers. More importantly, there has been no adverse economic impact on bars and restaurants as a result of the smoking ban."
The report also showed that changes in the state's countermarketing campaign were effective. During the past year, the state consistently aired countermarketing advertisements across the state and chose messages with greater emotional content. Consequently, the awareness of media messages increased, positively impacting consumers' knowledge and attitude toward smoking, and more effectively encouraging smokers to quit.
The authors suggest that to continue the decline in the number of New Yorkers who smoke, the state should increase its efforts to encourage households with smokers to maintain smoke-free homes and cars, expand intervention programs, and increase advertising spending to consistently reach 60 percent of consumers.
The report is available free of charge at the New York state Web site http://www.health.state.ny.us/.
About RTI InternationalRTI International is an independent nonprofit research organization dedicated to conducting research and development that improves the human condition. With a staff of more than 2,500 people, RTI offers innovative research and technical solutions to governments and businesses worldwide in the areas of health and pharmaceuticals, advanced technology, surveys and statistics, education and training, economic and social development, and the environment. For more information, please visit us at: http://www.rti.org.
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