IOM offers smoking measures.

A combination of increased excise taxes, nationwide indoor smoking bans, and other measures would significantly lower the U.S. smoking rate, which now hovers at around 21% of the adult population, according to a report from the Institute of Medicine. But to achieve faster, more certain reductions, the Food and Drug Administration should be given broad regulatory authority over tobacco marketing, packaging, and distribution, said the report, Ending the Tobacco Problem: A Blueprint for the Nation. The IOM also recommended requiring all health insurance plans to cover smoking cessation programs and launching new efforts aimed at curbing youth interest in smoking and access to tobacco. The report urged federal lawmakers to limit tobacco advertising to text-only black-and-white formats, and to prohibit tobacco companies from using terms such as "mild" and "light." "Aggressive policy initiatives will be necessary to end the tobacco problem," the report said. "Any slackening of the public health response may reverse decades of progress in reducing tobacco-related disease and death."