CDC Tobacco Office Closed Over a Year; Quit-Line Calls Drop
The shutdown of the CDC's Office on Smoking and Health, combined with the cancellation of the agency's flagship anti-smoking ad campaign, has measurably reduced smoker engagement with federally...
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Office on Smoking and Health has been closed for more than one year, according to reporting by The New York Times published July 2026. The office historically coordinated federal tobacco control programs, including the national 1-800-QUIT-NOW cessation hotline network and the CDC's 'Tips From Former Smokers' paid media campaign, which the agency launched in 2012.
Call volume to the 1-800-QUIT-NOW network has declined since the 'Tips From Former Smokers' campaign was taken off the air, according to the same New York Times report. The campaign's removal from broadcast has not been accompanied by a public CDC announcement or Federal Register notice explaining the policy change. The specific percentage decline in call volume was not independently verified through a CDC public data release as of this story's publication date.
The Office on Smoking and Health operated under the CDC's National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Budget authority for the office flows through the CDC's annual appropriation, which is set by Congress through the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations subcommittees. The most recent enacted appropriations bill providing line-item detail for CDC tobacco programs is the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 (P.L. 117-328), which allocated funding for tobacco prevention activities. Appropriations for fiscal years 2024 and 2025 were governed by a series of continuing resolutions; final FY2025 appropriations details remain available through the House Appropriations Committee's public record.
Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, responsible for approximately 480,000 deaths annually, according to CDC data published prior to the office's closure. The 'Tips From Former Smokers' campaign had been credited in peer-reviewed literature, including a 2013 study in The Lancet, with prompting an estimated 1.64 million quit attempts during its initial run.
Several material facts remain unknown at this time. It is not publicly confirmed whether the Office on Smoking and Health was closed through a formal reduction-in-force action, a reorganization order, or a funding freeze; a Freedom of Information Act request to the CDC for internal restructuring documents would be the relevant mechanism to obtain that determination. It is also unknown whether any alternative federal entity has assumed the office's programmatic functions. The Department of Health and Human Services has not published a formal notice in the Federal Register documenting the closure or any transfer of responsibilities as of the date of this report.