May 2009 Archives

Wow, I really can't understand why all these young people smoke!  I'm not young and cool anymore since I'm over 30, but seriously... how vile, I don't care if it has become "cool" again.

The Florida Legislature has taken an important step to protect the state's kids and taxpayers from the devastating toll of tobacco use by increasing the state cigarette tax for the first time since 1990. The $1 cigarette tax increase, to $1.34 per pack, is a win-win-win solution for Florida -- a health win that will reduce tobacco use and save lives, a financial win that will raise critical new revenue for health improvements, and a political win that polls show is popular with the voters. The Legislature also voted to increase the tax on most other tobacco products. We applaud the Legislature, especially the senators who initially proposed it, for supporting this life-saving proposal, and we urge Governor Charlie Crist to sign it into law.

The evidence is clear that increasing the cigarette tax is one of the most effective ways to reduce smoking, especially among kids. Studies show that every 10 percent increase in the price of cigarettes reduces youth smoking by 7 percent and overall cigarette consumption by about 4 percent. Florida can expect the $1 cigarette tax increase to prevent some 165,800 kids alive today from smoking; spur 100,500 smokers to quit for good; save nearly 79,600 residents from smoking-caused deaths; produce $3.8 billion in long-term health care savings; and raise about $631 million a year in new state revenue.

Counting Florida's increase and recently approved increases in Hawaii and Mississippi, the average state cigarette tax would be $1.27 per pack. Rhode Island has the highest state cigarette tax at $3.46 per pack. Twelve states and the District of Columbia have cigarette tax rates of at least $2 per pack. If the Florida legislation becomes law, 27 states and D.C. would have cigarette tax rates of at least $1 per pack.

Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death and disease in Florida, claiming 28,600 lives each year and costing the state $6.3 billion annually in health care bills, including $1.2 billion in Medicaid payments alone. Government expenditures related to tobacco amount to a hidden tax of $585 each year on every Florida household. While Florida has made progress in reducing youth smoking, 14.5 percent of Florida high school students still smoke and 22,700 more kids become regular smokers every year.

We call on states across the nation to follow Florida's lead and significantly increase their own state cigarette taxes to keep more kids from smoking and help current smokers quit.

SOURCE Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids

An important study presented Thursday at a scientific conference in Dublin, Ireland, provides powerful new evidence that U.S. smokers' risk of developing lung cancer has dramatically and progressively increased over the past four decades. In fact, cigarettes smoked today in the United States may double the risk of lung cancer compared to cigarettes smoked 40 years ago. The study also concludes that changes in cigarette design are the likely cause of this increased lung cancer risk and that regulation of tobacco products could significantly reduce lung cancer rates. The study concludes: "These data suggest that up to one half of current lung cancer occurrence may be attributable to changes in cigarette design and correspondingly that current lung cancer rates might be reduced by up to 50% through regulatory control of cigarette design and composition."

The study findings were presented at the 2009 Joint Conference of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT) and SRNT-Europe in Dublin. The study was conducted by researchers David Burns and Christy Anderson of the University of California-San Diego School of Medicine. Dr. Burns is a well-known tobacco control scientist who has served as author, editor or senior reviewer of each of the U.S. Surgeon General reports on tobacco since 1975. He has also edited a series of tobacco control monographs for the National Cancer Institute and is a member of the World Health Organization Study Group on Tobacco Product Regulation.

This study provides some of the strongest evidence to date that how cigarettes are designed and manufactured has a large impact on the amount of death and disease that they cause, and conversely, that effective regulation of tobacco products can reduce disease and save many lives. Lung cancer caused by smoking kills more than 125,000 Americans each year. Preventing half these deaths would save 62,500 lives a year. Tobacco use also causes many other forms of cancer, cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and numerous other serious illnesses that harm virtually every organ in the human body. It is the overall leading cause of preventable death in the United States, killing more than 400,000 Americans and costing the nation $96 billion in health care bills each year.

This study demonstrates why it is critical that Congress quickly enact legislation granting the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulatory authority over tobacco products. Because no government agency has any authority to regulate tobacco products, tobacco companies currently have free reign over how they manufacture tobacco products and what they put in them. They can make changes that make their products more deadly or more addictive without the knowledge of the public or any government agency. Under the pending legislation, for the first time, a science-based regulatory agency, the FDA, would gain authority to regulate the manufacturing, marketing and sale of tobacco products.

Among other things, this legislation would grant the FDA authority to require changes in the design and contents of tobacco products to protect public health, such as the reduction or elimination of harmful chemicals. The bill would also require tobacco companies to disclose the contents of their products, research about their products and changes to their products. They could no longer secretly change their products. The bill would also crack down on tobacco marketing and sales to kids, require bigger and stronger health warnings, strictly regulate health claims about tobacco products and take other steps to protect public health. These regulations would be funded by a user fee paid by tobacco companies.

The House of Representatives approved this legislation on April 2 by a strong, bipartisan vote of 298 to 112. The new study makes it even more urgent that the Senate quickly take up and pass this long-overdue legislation and resist all efforts to weaken it. President Obama has expressed his strong support for the legislation.

For the study, researchers examined lung cancer rates as well as changes in the design and smoke composition of cigarettes in the United States over the past four decades and then compared U.S. and Australian lung cancer rates over time. From this analysis, the researchers reached four major conclusions:

1) The study provides new evidence that among U.S. smokers the risk of developing lung cancer has progressively increased over the past four decades, controlling for amount and duration of smoking.

2) This increase in the risk of lung cancer among smokers coincides with a change in cigarette design over the past five decades. The study suggests that up to one half of current lung cancer occurrence may be attributable to changes in cigarette design.

3) This increase in risk of smoking over time is not evident for squamous cell carcinoma (one type of lung cancer) of the lung and is driven largely by changes in the risk of adenocarcinoma (another type of lung cancer). The increase in adenocarcinoma as a proportion of all lung cancers is much less evident in Australia. This suggests that the difference may be caused by a difference in the cigarettes used in the two countries. One major known difference in cigarettes between the two countries is the lower levels of tobacco specific nitrosamines (a lung specific carcinogen for adenocarcinoma) in Australian cigarettes. The increased risk of adenocarcinoma in the U.S. may be explained by the higher levels of tobacco specific nitrosamines in U.S. cigarettes.

4) These observations strongly support the need for regulation of tobacco, since technology exists to lower nitrosamines in tobacco, and that current lung cancer rates might be reduced by up to 50% through regulatory control of cigarette design and composition.

SOURCE Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids

--Only Two States Passed Comprehensive Smokefree Laws, Three plus DC Raised Tobacco Taxes--

According to a report released today by the American Lung Association, 2008 proved to be a slow year for tobacco control policies on the state level, with only a select few taking the steps that are needed to curb tobacco use and save lives.

In its annual update of State Legislated Actions on Tobacco Issues or SLATI, now in its 21st year of publication, the American Lung Association tracks the passage of legislation and other state policies related to tobacco control and prevention, including tobacco taxes, smoking restrictions and funding for tobacco prevention and cessation programs. SLATI is the only comprehensive summary of state tobacco control laws, and is also available online at http://slati.lungusa.org. The website is updated regularly to reflect changes in tobacco control laws as they take effect.

"Unfortunately, the significant momentum previously achieved with the passage of smokefree workplace laws stalled during 2008," said Stephen J. Nolan, American Lung Association National Board Chair. "Only two states joined the American Lung Association's Smokefree Air Challenge by adopting comprehensive laws prohibiting smoking in workplaces, restaurants and bars."

To date, 24 states including South Dakota just last month, plus the District of Columbia have passed comprehensive smokefree laws as part of the American Lung Association's Smokefree Air challenge. A map illustrating the nation's progress towards becoming smokefree can be found online at: www.lungusa.org/smokefree.

Only three states and the District of Columbia passed increases in their tobacco taxes in 2008, bringing the average state cigarette tax up to $1.19 a pack. This is a dramatic increase from the beginning of 2002 when the average tax was only 44.6 cents per pack. The revenue from tobacco taxes sometimes funds state tobacco control programs. However, no state has met the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's recommended funding level for these vital public health programs in fiscal year 2009.

"Higher cigarette prices help prevent children from starting to smoke and motivate adults to quit," explained Nolan. "The revenue increased tobacco taxes generate can and should be used to fund state tobacco control programs in order to save even more lives from the death and disease caused by tobacco use."

SOURCE American Lung Association