Effectiveness of measures against smoking.

The objective of a program to control cigarette smoking is to reduce illness and early mortality. This requires a) reducing the taking up of smoking, b) increasing the giving up of smoking, c) reducing the dosage of harmful substances received by the smoker, and d) protecting the non-smoker. Such a program requires both an educational effort and a management approach. The success of past educational efforts has changed the nature of current efforts from an emphasis on persuading people to stop smoking to an emphasis on encouraging those who have been unsuccessful to try again, to assist them, and to use dosage reduction as an alternative to quitting. Managerial efforts most promising are the gradual reduction of harmful substances in the smoke, economic disincentives, and limitations of smoking in public places, thereby protecting both the smoker and the non-smoker.