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Concluding Note: We Have the Know-How, But Will We Do It? 53

conduct a major study of tobacco policy in the United States. The IOM then ap-
pointed a 14-member committee and charged it to assess past progress and future
prospects in tobacco control and to develop a blueprint for reducing tobacco use in
the United States. To carry out its charge, the committee conducted six meetings in
2004 and 2005, at which the members heard presentations from individuals repre-
senting academia, nonprofit organizations, and various state governments. The
committee also reviewed an extensive literature from peer-reviewed journals, pub-
lished reports, and news articles. The committee found it useful to set some
boundaries on its work concerning the goal of “reducing tobacco use” and the time
frame within which it should be achieved. To make its task manageable and well fo-
cused, the committee decided to focus its literature review and evidence gathering
on reducing cigarette smoking (IOM, 2007, p. 31).
As referenced earlier in the chapter, this blueprint was published in 2007 in
Ending the Tobacco Problem: A Blueprint for the Nation, which included 42 recom-
mendations in these three categories (IOM, 2007, pp. 12–13):

• 22 measures to strengthen traditional tobacco control.
• 18 measures to change the regulatory landscape.
• 2 new frontiers in tobacco control:
• Congress should direct the CDC to undertake a major program of
tobacco control policy analysis and development and should provide
sufficient funding to support the program.
• The FDA should give priority to exploring the potential effectiveness of a
long-term strategy for reducing the amount of nicotine in cigarettes and
should commission the studies needed to assess the feasibility of
implementing such an approach.

In the end, the committee projected that the following specific policies, if im-
plemented effectively and collectively, were likely help the United States reach the
original Healthy People 2010 smoking prevalence target of 12% by about 2020,
with a 10% prevalence by 2025. Marketing mix tool labels have been added to rein-
force the strategic blend this effort will require:
• Product: Full coverage of pharmacotherapy and behavioral therapy,
training and coverage for tobacco brief interventions, multisession quit
lines, Internet interventions, and free nicotine replacement therapy.
• Product: Universal implementation of school-based prevention sufficient to
cut the rate of smoking initiation by 10%.
• Price: Tax increases of $1 or $2 per pack (depending on current state excise
rates).