Majority of Americans support a widespread ban of tobacco products: CDC study
A majority of U.S. adults support a widespread ban on tobacco products and other steps to limit tobacco use, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The study released Thursday found 57.3 percent of respondents would support prohibiting the sale of all tobacco products, while 62.3 percent support banning the sale of all menthol cigarettes. The researchers used data from a web panel survey of adults in the United States who were randomly recruited by mail.
Participants were asked to what extent they would support a policy to prohibit the sale of menthol cigarettes and one to prohibit the sale of all tobacco products, with response options as “strongly support,” “somewhat support,” “somewhat oppose” and “strongly oppose.”
Those who picked the first two were considered to support the policy, while those who chose the latter two were considered to oppose it.
Researchers found some differences in support for banning all tobacco products based on demographics.
Just more than half of men said they support banning the products, while 60 percent of women said they do. About 55 percent of non-Hispanic whites said they support a ban, but more than 60 percent of all other racial groups said they support one.
A quarter of current cigarette users said they would support banning the sale of all tobacco products, while more than 60 percent of non-users said they would.
The CDC said in its analysis that the findings are consistent with previous research that found populations that have historically been targeted with unjust marketing and have high levels of menthol cigarette use strongly support banning them.
More than 60 percent of non-Hispanic Black participants said they support a ban on the menthol cigarettes.
The CDC said it did not find major differences in support for banning menthol cigarettes based on race or ethnicity, demonstrating broad support for it.
The Food and Drug Administration proposed a ban on menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars following a public debate over them last year.
The researchers noted that the survey is not representative of the U.S. population as a whole, but was weighted to match the proportions from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.
The tobacco survey was conducted in 2021 among 6,455 adults. Researchers calculated a 95 percent confidence interval, the chance that the true number will fall between two values, for each figure.
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