The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) calls on Congress to support a sustained level of funding of $310 million for tobacco control and reject the elimination of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Office on Smoking and Health (OSH). The elimination of OSH will have devastating consequences for the nation’s progress to reduce the suffering and death from chronic diseases, like cancer, caused by tobacco use.
The stakes could not be higher. Decades of progress in reducing tobacco use is at risk of being undone. Smoking kills over 490,000 Americans and costs the nation more than $600 billion a year in health care costs and lost productivity. Tobacco use is the primary driver of chronic disease and the top cause of cancer deaths in the U.S. The elimination of OSH will lead to more youth starting to use tobacco products, fewer people quitting, and more people becoming ill and dying from tobacco use.
