Today’s NYT editorial page includes a piece on tobacco policy and trends on the heels of the Institute of Medicine report last week. The editorial notes the obvious – “Currently, some 44 million adults in this country smoke cigarettes, and 4 out of 5 are addicted, frustrating their efforts to quit. Tobacco kills 440,000 smokers every year in the United States, and secondhand smoke inhaled by bystanders claims another 50,000″ – and that “standard tactics will not bring smoking rates much below 15% for adults.” Conclusion? “The only real hope of breaking smokers’ addiction is to strike at the addictive properties of cigarettes and at the machinations of manufacturers who work hard to hook customers.” Good luck.
While looking at today’s NYT, you might also take a gander at the Op-Ed piece on electronic medical records, specifically the Veterans Affairs’ acclaimed Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA).
