Федеральное финансирование борьбы с табаком в США сокращено, Вашингтон вынужден действовать самостоятельно

Washington, D.C. is retreating from tobacco control. Washington state cannot afford to follow. Published 1:30 am Tuesday, September 1, 2026 In April 2025, federal employees and contractors at CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health (OSH) learned in a middle-of-the-night email that their jobs had been eliminated. For 50 years, OSH was the federal linchpin of America’s fight against tobacco, still our deadliest consumer product. There was no warning, no transition plan, and 16 months later there has been no restoration of staff since the OSH linchpin was broken. OSH was dismantled under Elon Musk’s DOGE “government efficiency” push. This was not trimming bureaucracy; it was gutting the only federal funding source directly supporting state tobacco control programs, including Washington’s. OSH also ran the Tips From Former Smokers media campaign, which helped millions quit, prevented hundreds of thousands of early deaths, and saved billions in health costs. These programs and more were halted and remain weakened with an uncertain future. Washington state is impacted by OSH’s dismantling. In 2021, there were 8,300 Washington deaths attributable to smoking, higher than the 6,400 COVID deaths that year. The American Lung Association has given our state an “F” for tobacco prevention funding every year since 2017, yet lawmakers cut the current two-year program budget to $3.8 million—far below public health recommendations. Although Washington taxes cigarettes at $3 per pack, too little of that revenue is invested in prevention or quitting support. The state has leaned heavily on federal data, technical assistance, media campaigns, and quitline funding to make up the difference. That federal partner is now unreliable at best. This did not happen by accident. The tobacco industry spends an estimated $24 million a day on marketing, plus hundreds of millions on lobbying and political giving, including the largest corporate donation to the main pro-Trump super PAC leading up to the election from an R.J. Reynolds subsidiary. When public health is silenced, industry fills the void. The pattern continued in 2026. In April, CDC hired a high-level deputy director of legislative affairs who previously worked as a tobacco company executive. In May, FDA authorized fruit-flavored e-cigarettes for sale for the first time, reportedly after pressure from President Trump and industry lobbyists. FDA Commissioner Marty Makary resigned days later, reportedly in protest, warning that FDA previously found that fruit flavors appeal to teens. Alarmingly, FDA also issued guidance allowing e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches to remain on shelves without the scientific review and authorization required by law. In June, FDA allowed Philip Morris International’s ZYN nicotine pouches to claim that switching from cigarettes reduces certain disease risks—the first such claim for a nicotine pouch. These FDA actions are particularly troubling given they come at the same moment federal tobacco control capacity has been gutted and a new national survey just found that pouch use in young adults doubled in the past two years and tripled in 19-20 year-olds to 14.4%, while vaping in the past year tripled in young adults to almost 20% since 2017. Congress, to its credit, pushed back. Lawmakers from both parties, including Washington’s congressional delegation and Sen. Patty Murray’s leadership, restored tobacco prevention funding in this year’s budget. But as of this spring, the administration had spent little of the money, rehired no OSH staff, and proposed zeroing out tobacco prevention funding again. CDC has provided some state funds and limited media support, but with an uncertain future and not nearly enough to meet state needs. More than 28 million American adults still smoke. More than 2 million young people use tobacco and commercial nicotine products. Tobacco-related illness kills roughly 490,000 Americans each year—more than any other preventable cause. The White House and HHS Secretary talk about “Making America Healthy Again.” But slogans do not save lives. Dismantling the federal office built to reduce the nation’s leading preventable cause of death, pressuring the FDA to authorize fruit-flavored e-cigarettes, and allowing nicotine products that have not undergone full scientific review to remain on the market do the opposite. Federal political appointees are either ignorant of tobacco’s continuing toll, tobacco industry influence has won out, or both. Washington state has relied more than most on a federal partnership that is now deteriorating. If our state does not act, the consequences will be predictable: more youth getting hooked on vapes and nicotine pouches, fewer adults getting help to quit, and more preventable disease and death. Washington state must invest in its own tobacco prevention programs now and keep pressing CDC, HHS, and the White House to follow Congress’s intent by restoring sufficient staffing and reliable funding for tobacco control. Dr. Tim McAfee is a former director of the Office on Smoking and Health at the CDC who has worked in tobacco cessation and control from the local to the global level.