Schiff reviews tobacco control history and Healthy NYC chronic disease strategy
Schiff says New York City has long led in tobacco control through the Smoke-Free Air Act, which reduced smoking by over 50% since 2002. She ties continued tobacco prevention to Healthy NYC and a multi-agency chronic disease strategy, noting smoking remains a leading cause of death.
The Health Department also implements a wide variety of measures to protect New Yorkers from the harms of smoking, and New York City has long been a leader in tobacco control.
The city's landmark Smoke-Free Air Act dramatically limited indoor smoking, making New York City a model for jurisdictions around the world, protecting New Yorkers from secondhand smoke, and normalizing a smoke-free culture.
The SFAA, along with other strategies, has enabled the city to reduce the smoking rate by over 50% since 2002, but smoking remains a leading cause of death and continues to be a public health priority.
The Council and the Department have continuously strengthened the City's tobacco retail and secondhand smoke policies.
Those efforts have paid off in expanded life expectancy and a reduction in tobacco-related diseases and deaths.
Most recently, Chair Schulman and the City Council codified Healthy NYC, the Department's plan for improving life expectancy and creating a healthier city for all.
Preventing tobacco use and reducing smoking among New Yorkers is critical to reducing, to reaching the chronic disease goals set under Healthy NYC and increasing life expectancy.
The Health Department also released a multi-agency strategy that addresses the root causes of chronic diseases, which are a leading cause of death in New York City, taking an especially high toll on Black New Yorkers and New Yorkers in communities experiencing disinvestment.