New Surgeon General’s Report Addresses Disparities
A new U.S. Surgeon General’s report, Eliminating Tobacco-Related Disease and Death: Addressing Disparities: A Report of the Surgeon General, highlights the latest scientific evidence on disparities in commercial tobacco product use, exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke, exposure to marketing of tobacco products and smoking-related health outcomes.
The report outlines tobacco prevention strategies and control strategies that have the potential to reduce disparities. It notes that despite progress in reducing tobacco use at the population level, these disparities still exist.
“At IGTC [Institute for Global Tobacco Control], we believe that everyone has a fair and just opportunity to attain their highest level of health, unburdened by the negative effects of tobacco,” said Ryan Kennedy, an IGTC associate professor who contributed to the report as a senior scientific editor. “Advancing tobacco-related health equity is central to the Surgeon General’s call to action, which entailed rigorous review of the latest scientific evidence behind disparity drivers as well as the data on interventions to prevent and reduce health disparities and a vision for equitably pursuing the tobacco endgame.”
According to an IGTC statement, the report asserts that the tobacco industry has specifically targeted certain groups for decades, including communities with high populations of Black people, Hispanic people and people with lower incomes. The report also pinpoints the design, engineering and marketing of menthol cigarettes and other flavored tobacco products as instrumental in perpetuating tobacco initiation, addiction and sustained use.
The report recommends restricting the availability of menthol cigarettes and applying an equity-informed approach to data from surveillance and intervention research. “Interventions designed to reduce the use of tobacco products and the influences of the tobacco industry on society should accompany efforts to remove the underlying social, structural, commercial and political drivers of health inequities,” the report states.
The report also recommends reducing the affordability, accessibility, appeal and addictiveness of tobacco products, eliminating secondhand smoke exposure, implementing high-impact media campaigns and providing barrier-free access to cessation support with broad reach to disparate populations.
IGTC Director Joanna Cohen, who served as a reviewer, stated, “The importance of this report cannot be overstated. Tobacco-related health disparities exist worldwide. This report offers a meticulous review of the existing evidence and makes recommendations that can put an end to tobacco-related health disparities.”
