Virginia Tech Scientists Lead Study on Tobacco Tax Impact

Scientists at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech are leading a five-year, $3.5 million research project to predict the impact of tobacco taxes on health.

Taxation is one of the most effective ways to change behavior - it makes people think about their choices, including their choice to use tobacco," said Warren Bickel, professor at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute and director of the Addictions Recovery Center at the institute.

Bickel's research project, funded by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health in the United States, aims to predict the impact of tobacco tax proposals in a complex experimental market. This market is constantly evolving with the introduction of new products, such as low-nicotine cigarettes or electronic cigarettes.

According to Virginia Tech, this project could potentially provide research-based health policy guidance for new tobacco regulations and assess the impact of people's economic choices on health.

Taxation is one of the most effective ways to change behavior - it makes people consider their choices, including their choice to use tobacco.

Warren Bickel, Director of the Addictions Recovery Research Center at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute.

Taxes can help people achieve better health by discouraging them from smoking. If you make the product more expensive, people will be less likely to use it. They can also encourage people to switch from the most harmful tobacco products to the least harmful ones," said Bickel, who is also the director of the research institute's Health Behavior Research Center.

He will consider health disparities related to tobacco by investigating socio-economic factors.

Smoking rates are higher among low-income populations, and disproportionate tax policies may have far-reaching direct and unforeseen effects," said Professor Becker of the Virginia Tech College of Science.

To gain definitive answers, Bickel's approach involves conducting experiments in the tobacco market, which is an invention of the Center for Addictions Recovery Research. Participants have an account and purchase tobacco products to reflect their typical buying behavior. Joint researchers involved in the project include Jeff Stein and Allison Tegge from the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute and Bickel.

The market places a combination of products, prices, and specific regulations under experimental control to enable researchers to estimate the impact of policies in a realistic environment.

In this context, researchers can predict the impact and health equity of proposed tax policies, including a proposal for equal taxation of all tobacco products, as well as other proposals based on the product's nicotine content, potential harm, or whether the tobacco product is already taxed. The FDA's revised risk designation.

We can implement policies in the experimental tobacco market and provide information on the effects of tobacco purchases on people," said Bickel. "For example, if legislators or regulators restrict access to one product over another, will it lead smokers to make less healthy or healthier choices? It is an ideal resource for studying the harm reduction potential of low-nicotine cigarettes and alternative nicotine products.

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