DCCPS efforts play a crucial role in building the evidence base for tobacco reduction strategies (e.g., tax increases, media campaigns, smokefree air laws, advertising bans, cessation treatment policies) by quantifying their impact on reductions in cancer and other tobacco-related diseases.
For instance, DCCPS-funded research revealed that government campaigns and policies from 1991–2000 to reduce smoking helped prevent 345,000 lung cancer deaths among US men, and that 175,000 deaths among US women were averted due to changes in smoking behaviors starting in the mid-1950s.
Another study showed tobacco reduction strategies prevented millions of deaths and continue to greatly reduce lung cancer mortality rates. A third study showed that the strategies extended the average lifespan of Americans by up to 20 years between 1964 and 2012, and led researchers to conclude that cessation treatment policies and physician interventions could play an increasing role in raising quit rates, along with greater regulation of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products by the Food and Drug Administration.