florida department of alcohol and tobacco Division Alcoholic Beverages Officials celebrate Bureau of Law

S., Forey, B

Electronic cigarettes are winning over smokers -- and tobacco companies -- so quickly that some analysts predict the battery-powered newcomer could come out on top of traditional cigarettes within a decade

So far, just Massachusetts and California have approved bans on the sale of all flavored tobacco products, although California's is on hold pending the outcome of a referendum from the tobacco industry

When assessed for their ability to taste bitter flavours, one in five of the smokers (19.8 per cent) could not recognize the samples, with former smokers coming off even worse: one in four (26.5 per cent) failed to spot that they were tasting something that was bitter

The World Bank analyzed the net economic effect of tobacco and concluded that money not spent on cigarettes would instead be spent on other goods and services that in turn would generate other jobs and economic activity to replace any that would be lost from the tobacco industry.81 In the United States, completely eliminating tobacco from the economy would result in an estimated net increase of more than 130 000 jobs nationwide.82 In the United States, smoking causes annual economic losses of $167 billion per year (about $3650 per smoker), including health care expenses and productivity losses caused by premature death.1 , 5 These costs are borne by individuals and by society as a whole, and they are more than twice the $81 billion (including taxes and manufacturing and marketing costs) that US smokers spend annually on tobacco.83 The science behind smoking cessation treatment is strong, and its cost-effectiveness compares favorably with many other medical interventions.84 Businesses and health insurers have financial incentives to support cessation programs for employees: nonsmokers are more productive and miss less work than smokers do,85 and tobacco cessation coverage is one of the most cost-effective health insurance benefits an employer can provide.86 MYTH #11: WEVE ALREADY SOLVED THE TOBACCO PROBLEM The public health problems caused by tobacco use are far from solved