Tobacco Control

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Tobacco products are projected to kill one billion people worldwide this century. And the industry is showing no signs of slowing down, spending more than $9 billion on marketing each year. 

Despite the industry's deceptive and deadly practices, ACS CAN continues to have enormous success passing local, state and federal laws that prevent children from smoking, help adults quit and ensure the government uses its authority to regulate tobacco industry practices.

While our work has had an enormous impact on youth cigarette use - now at historic lows - the use of e-cigarettes among kids is skyrocketing.  This further reinforces the importance of continuing this lifesaving work.

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Protect our Children from Big Tobacco

The tobacco industry has preyed upon young people by marketing products that appeal to kids.

Latest Updates

April 8, 2025
Maryland

Maryland state lawmakers have released details on the agreed upon 2025-26 budget—the contents of which are a mixed bag in the fight against cancer. While the state made sound investments in cancer research and protected Medicaid recipients’ ability to access biomarker testing, it missed an opportunity to save the lives and lungs of Maryland’s youth by cutting funding for the state’s tobacco prevention and cessation programs.

April 2, 2025
West Virginia

Cancer Advocates Gathered at the Statehouse Today to Say West Virginia Can and Must Do Better to Reduce the Burden of Tobacco

April 1, 2025
New Hampshire

The decision to cut funding to our state tobacco control program is an extremely costly and unnecessary road to take. Any short-term savings are dwarfed by the staggering toll tobacco use takes on our economy and our health care.

April 1, 2025
Oregon

SALEM, Oregon –– Cancer patients, survivors, teen advocates and others from throughout Oregon asked legislators on Tuesday to stop the tobacco industry from targeting our kids by passing Senate Bill 702 and ending flavored tobacco and menthol sales. “We have to take common-sense action to curb youth tobacco use,” American

Tobacco Control Resources

Smoke-free policies reduce exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) in office and non-office worksites. This has been proven by reduced nicotine concentration levels in the bloodstream of the adults who work in these settings.

 

More than 40 years after former U.S. Surgeon General Jesse Steinfeld first exposed the potential health risks of secondhand smoke (SHS) in 1971, and nearly 30 years after a subsequent Surgeon General’s report stated that SHS causes lung cancer and other diseases, all U.S. workers still do not have the right to breathe smoke-free air.

ACS CAN and 77 leading public health organizations urged the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and its enforcement partners at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), to use all the enforcement tools at their disposal against manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers and retailers to clear the market of unauthorized e-cigarette products, including flavored products that put young people at risk for nicotine addiction and other significant health harms.