California smoking laws passed beginning in 1988 will have saved 50,000 lives by 2010, researchers project.

The Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE) has stated that these laws have decreased smoking in the state by 25%. The California Tobacco Control Program (CTCP) campaign includes laws banning indoor smoking and reducing youth access to cigarettes, higher cigarette prices, and anti-smoking media ads.

Study author David Levy, Ph.D., a senior research scientist at The Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, says that in the year 2010 alone, over 5,000 lives will be saved as a result of the California Tobacco Control Program.

CTCP is funded through a 25% per-pack tax, as outlined in California's Proposition 99, passed in 1988. Levy feels that further tax increases on cigarettes would lead to more lives saved.

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Study: California Smoking Laws Save 50,000 Lives

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