SEATTLE – The American Lung Association released its 18th annual “State of Tobacco Control” report to the public on January 29, 2020, at 12 a.m. ET. The report tracks progress on key tobacco control policies at the federal and state levels, assigning grades based on efforts in 2019 to reduce and prevent tobacco use and tobacco-caused death and disease. Washington received mixed grades in the report which also identified opportunities for both the federal government and states to improve grades in 2020.
Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States, killing 480,000 people each year. The United States is also facing a youth e-cigarette epidemic, with e-cigarette use increased by a staggering 132 percent among high school students from 2017 to 2019, with more than 1 in 4 kids vaping (27.5 percent). Effective strategies to prevent and reduce tobacco, including e-cigarette use, have been identified, and the annual “State of Tobacco Control” report serves as a roadmap to save lives, and grades states and the federal government on efforts to reduce and prevent tobacco use and tobacco-related death and disease.
Visit Lung.org/sotc for more details on the “State of Tobacco Control” 2020 report and see how Washington was graded. To request more information or an embargoed interview, contact Holly Harvey at Holly.Harvey@Lung.org or 206-512-3292.
