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January 09, 2007
A Lack of Political Will
On Tuesday January 9, the American Lung Association released its 2006 State of Tobacco Control report. In its fifth year, the report grades the states in four key areas of tobacco control policy, tobacco prevention and cessation program funding, smokefree air laws, cigarette taxes and laws restricting youth access to tobacco products. To read the report click here.
Implementing these policies is a proven way to reduce the estimated 438,000 deaths each year from tobacco use:
- A study published in the American Journal of Public Health concluded that if all the states spent just the minimum amount recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), youth smoking nationally would be 3 to 14 percent lower.
- The 2006 Surgeon General’s report on secondhand smoke concluded that there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke, and that eliminating smoking in indoor areas is the only way to fully protect nonsmokers from secondhand smoke.
- Studies have shown that a 10 percent increase in the price of cigarettes reduces consumption by 7 percent for youth and 4 percent for adults.
The report’s grades this year show improvement especially in the area of smokefree air, but the political will is still lacking to implement these policies in many states. States that have done so have seen dramatic results. For the 2nd year in a row, the state of Maine has earned four A’s in the report, and youth smoking in that state has declined by almost 60 percent between 1997 and 2005.
The state of California has sustained its tobacco prevention and cessation program since 1990, and as a result it has some of the lowest adult and youth smoking rates in the country. But the California program is under funded. The Golden State spends about half of what the CDC recommends for a comprehensive program. In fact, only nine states fund these programs at or near the levels recommended by the CDC, 34 others including California fund them at less than 60 percent. Imagine the additional lives that would be saved if California and the other states increased their investments.
Only the strongest tobacco control laws will reduce the death and disease caused by tobacco use. The science behind these policies is proven, and the public overwhelmingly supports them. Yet, like the states, the U.S. Congress has not mustered the political will to make changes at the national level either. Despite tobacco products being one of the only unregulated consumer products, Congress has failed to enact critical legislation giving the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the authority to do so. Send a letter today to your Member of Congress and Senators. Tell them to protect kids from tobacco and promote public health by supporting legislation to grant the FDA the authority to regulate tobacco products and advertising claims.
For more information about the American Lung Association or to support the work it does, call 1-800-LUNG-USA (1-800-586-4872) or log on to www.lungusa.org.
Posted by lungblogposter at 11:40 AM | Comments (7)
