WASHINGTON, D.C. -- July 24, 2007 -- A grassroots army of cancer advocates across the United States is flooding the offices of many U.S. House of Representative Democrats and Republicans with emails and phone calls this week to stress the urgent need for support of a significant federal cigarette tax increase to fund the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).
"A significant increase in the cost of tobacco products will save hundreds of thousands of lives by preventing many children from starting to smoke and causing youth and adults to quit," said Daniel E. Smith, president of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN). "But it is critical that the increase be large enough to have a meaningful impact on health. Every 10 percent increase in the price of a pack of cigarettes reduces youth smoking by seven percent."
A 61-cent increase, the amount recommended in the Senate legislation, would reduce the costs of smoking-related pregnancy complications by $420 million, save $200 million nationally in treating lung cancer and save states and the federal government nearly $12 billion in tobacco-related Medicaid expenses in the first five years after implementation. The tax would generate approximately $35 billion in new federal revenue in five years, and overall would prevent more than 900,000 Americans from dying prematurely because of smoking.
ACS CAN’s volunteers will continue to garner support for a substantial tobacco tax increase by educating their members of Congress about the positive returns on investment in the lives saved and revenue gained from the SCHIP legislation and tax increase. An increase in the federal tobacco tax, which currently stands at a mere 39 cents, would be the first in five years.
ACS CAN is the nonprofit, nonpartisan sister advocacy organization of the American Cancer Society, dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem. ACS CAN works to encourage lawmakers, candidates and government officials to support laws and policies that will make cancer a top national priority. ACS CAN gives ordinary people extraordinary power to fight cancer.