New surgeon general’s report highlights the need for evidence-based quit programs, deems e-cigarettes not a cessation tool

Statement of Robin Koval, CEO and President of Truth Initiative^®

The surgeon general’s report on tobacco cessation released today underscores the urgent need to help the 34 million Americans who smoke and the millions of teens using tobacco products, primarily e-cigarettes, to quit with evidence-based methods. The report makes clear that there is inadequate evidence to conclude that e-cigarettes help smokers quit. Instead, a new generation of young e-cigarette users, most of whom were not smokers in the first place, is driving the rate of youth tobacco use to its highest level in decades, putting their current and future health at risk. For its part, Truth Initiative is committed to providing innovative and proven-effective quit methods to help make tobacco use a thing of the past. Our BecomeAnEX^® digital cessation program, along with our workplace-based EX^® Program, have helped more than 800,000 people on their journey to quit. In fact, research shows that these digital cessation programs quadruple a smoker’s chance of success. In response to the massive youth e-cigarette epidemic, Truth Initiative is also now providing a free, text-based quit program for young people called This is Quitting. To date, nearly 100,000 youth have enrolled in this anonymous program with more than half of users surveyed reporting they had reduced or stopped using e-cigarettes after two weeks of using the program. As the surgeon general stated, we know more about the science of quitting than ever before and must focus attention on the proven cessation methods that can — and will — help the nearly 70% of adult smokers who want to quit. In addition, we must also help youth and young adults seeking to break their e-cigarette nicotine dependence. It's the single most important thing we can do to improve the health of our nation.