gsthr logo
Quick links to detailed datasheets for United States of America at gsthr.org

Smoking in United States of America

In the United States of America, smoking is allowed but tobacco products should follow some regulations. Under these regulations, health warnings on tobacco packaging including cigarettes are mandatory, the minimum legal age for their sales is 21 years, and there are no federal legal restrictions on smoking in public places. While tobacco advertising is regulated, not all forms of their advertising are banned. An excise tax of 32.16% with a total taxation rate of 37.36% is applied on cigarettes. Cigarettes can legally be sold with authorised documents. They may also be purchased through vending machines as well as through online channels. Importing cigarettes for trade is allowed with an appropriate import license. Despite these control measures, prevalence data show that smoking remains an important public health issue in the United States. There were 39.8 million current smokers in the country in 2024. This represents an overall adult smoking prevalence of 14.1%, with higher prevalence among men (17.1%) than among women (11.1%). In comparison, the overall current smoking prevalence was 12.3% in 2022. The adult daily smoking prevalence was recorded to be 10.01% in 2020. Smoking-related mortality also remains significant in the country. In 2021, smoking resulted in 360,370 deaths, including 216,986 male deaths and 143,383 female deaths. This shows that smoking accounted for 10.38% of all deaths in the United States in 2021, with a higher rate among men (11.9%) than among women (8.7%).

Read articles from United States of America

September 17, 2021 by reason.com

If the FDA Doesn't Kill the Vaping Industry, the Democrats' Tax Hike Just Might

It's been a rough couple of weeks for the vaping industry.

Last week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) let a deadline for authorizing vape products pass without having processed millions of pending applications—effectively making those products illegal to sell. Then on Monday, House Democrats unveiled a funding plan for their $3.5 trillion Build Back Better bill that would impose steep new excise taxes on nicotine-containing vaping liquid for the first time.

The hope is that new taxes on vaping products—alongside massive rate increases on traditional cigarettes—will bring in $96 billion in revenue while deterring people from using either.

September 15, 2021 by filtermag.org

House Democrats Seek to Hike Taxes on Vapes as Smokers Keep Dying

On September 12, influential House Democrats circulated a new tax proposal around Washington meant to target the country’s wealthiest individuals and corporations. [...] This could lead to the country’s richest citizens and most profitable corporations finally paying a fair share—so the government can, say, address the climate crisis and expand public education. But there’s at least one section in the draft that does not fit into this context: a tax raise on all nicotine products.

September 14, 2021 by halfwheel.com

House Tax Bill Includes Massive Cigar Tax Increase

The new major tax bill proposed by Democrats in the House of Representatives would dramatically increase the federal taxes on tobacco products, including more than doubling the federal taxes for large cigars.

The U.S. House of Representatives’ Ways and Means Committee is in the process of markup for the Build Back Better Act, or specifically, how to pay for the proposal, which is part of President Joe Biden’s domestic agenda. It could cost as much as $3.5 trillion and as such, Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee have unveiled a proposed bill that would increase a variety of taxes.

September 14, 2021 by eurasiareview.com

Vaping Linked To Heightened Eating Disorder Risk Among US College Students

A new study published in the journal Eating Behaviors found that vaping or e-cigarette use is associated with a heighted risk of developing an eating disorder among US college students. This finding is particularly important given the common use of vape pens and e-cigarettes and an increase in the prevalence of eating disorders amidst the COVID-19 pandemic among young people.

The study, which analyzed a sample of over 51,000 U.S. college students who participated in the 2018-2019 Healthy Minds Study, highlights the need for more research and clinical assessment and intervention for those who exhibit both substance use and eating disorders.

September 13, 2021 by reason.com

Since the FDA Has Not Approved Any Vaping Products, All of Them Are Now 'Subject to Enforcement Action'

When a court-set deadline for "premarket" review of nicotine vaping products came and went on Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had received millions of applications but had not approved any. As a result, the agency says, every vaping product sold in the United States—including myriad e-liquids, devices, and parts—is now "subject to enforcement action at the FDA's discretion."

Seven years after the FDA officially declared its intention to regulate e-cigarettes as "tobacco products," in other words, the entire industry remains in legal limbo, existing solely thanks to the agency's enforcement discretion and limited resources. [...]

September 13, 2021 by regulatorwatch.com

Reckless Regulator | FDA Leaves U.S. Vaping Industry Mired in Chaos

Join RegWatch for a special live episode to unpack the reckless behaviour of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in its decision to delay authorizations of nicotine vaping products for controversial companies such as Juul. While issuing Marketing Denial Orders for millions of products manufactured and sold by thousands of small businesses operating in the U.S. market.

September 10, 2021 by filtermag.org

FDA Fails to Meet Deadline to Decide on PMTA Applications for Vapes

On September 9, its longstanding deadline, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) effectively announced that it would need more time to process the remaining premarket tobacco applications (PMTAs) that vape companies were required to file last year to stay legally on the market. [...] “America’s tobacco and nicotine regulatory system is broken beyond repair,” Greg Conley, the president of the American Vaping Association, told Filter. “It is absolutely absurd that the same agency that found time to ban over 6 million vaping products manufactured by small businesses is now indicating they need more time to review products with massive market shares. [...]

September 10, 2021 by nytimes.com

F.D.A. Delays Decision on Juul’s E-Cigarettes but Orders Others Off the Market

The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday put off a long-anticipated ruling on whether Juul Labs and other major e-cigarette companies could continue to sell their products in the United States.

The companies are at the center of a review of the vaping industry that the agency has been conducting for the past year. The F.D.A. said on Thursday that it had so far denied the applications of 946,000 flavored e-cigarette products to remain on the market, mostly made by small companies. No e-cigarettes have been approved through the application process, an agency official said.

September 10, 2021 by fda.gov

FDA Makes Significant Progress in Science-Based Public Health Application Review, Taking Action on Over 90% of More Than 6.5 Million ‘Deemed’ New Tobacco Products Submitted

On this day last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration faced the unprecedented task of reviewing applications for over 6.5 million “deemed” new tobacco products – many of which were already on the market. A majority of the applications submitted by a court-ordered deadline of Sept. 9, 2020, were for electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) products, such as e-cigarettes and e-liquids, which had never been through the FDA review process.

We’ve made significant progress in the months since, working diligently to better understand these products and, as of today, taking action on about 93% of the total timely-submitted applications. [...]

September 09, 2021 by cei.org

FDA Shows Its Bias against E-cigarettes as Deadline Approaches

After years facing the constant threat of extinction, it seemed the vapor industry would finally be vindicated. The evidence on e-cigarettes regarding their safety and effectiveness in helping adult smokers is strong. It is at least as strong as that for the other new tobacco products recently approved for sale by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Conducting an unbiased review of this evidence would all but compel the agency to admit that vaping is safer than smoking and can save lives. But, in the leadup to the FDA’s September 9 deadline to make decisions about which vapor products can stay on the market and which ones cannot, [...]