Washington, D.C. – November 12, 2009 – Two new reports released today by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that state tobacco control efforts, including smoke-free policies, are vitally important to efforts to limit exposure to deadly secondhand smoke.
One study, reported in the November 13 issue of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), found that states with 100 percent smoke-free workplaces, and/or restaurants, and/or bars laws, have the lowest smoking prevalence among adults. This includes Utah (9.2 percent), California (14 percent) and New Jersey (14.8 percent). States that have the highest smoking prevalence – West Virginia (26.6 percent), Indiana (26.1 percent) and Kentucky (25.3 percent) – do not have statewide smoke-free laws. The study also concludes that increasing the number of smoke-free workplaces and other public places through legislation is critical to decreasing secondhand smoke exposure.
“These findings show the tremendous effect that state and local smoke-free laws, higher tobacco excise taxes and fully funded tobacco prevention and cessation programs have had on our communities,” said John R. Seffrin, PhD, chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society and its advocacy affiliate, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN). “By passing these important laws, we have helped more Americans quit smoking, prevented children from ever starting, and diminished the harmful effects of secondhand smoke in workplaces.”
The Society and ACS CAN have been waging hard-fought campaigns across the United States to raise state and federal tobacco excise taxes and implement smoke-free laws in states, counties and municipalities. Since 2002, 46 states, the District of Columbia and several U.S. territories have raised their cigarette tax in more than 95 separate instances, including 14 states and the District of Columbia in 2009 alone. Additionally, 31 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have smoke-free laws in effect that require 100 percent smoke-free workplaces, and/or restaurants, and/or bars.
“Despite major progress in recent years to enact strong tobacco control measures at the state and local levels, only 40 percent of the population is covered by comprehensive smoke-free laws,” said Daniel E. Smith, president of ACS CAN. “Clearly, there is still much more work that needs to be done.”
A second study, reported in the same MMWR issue, found nationwide adult smoking rates statically unchanged over the past year, with 46 million adults (20.6 percent of the population) smoking daily.
The articles use data collected in 2008 and reported on annually through state-based and national surveys, including the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and the National Health Interview Survey.
Several tobacco control successes at the federal level in 2009 promise to have a major impact in discouraging people from smoking and prohibiting the tobacco industry from misleading children and adults about the hazards of tobacco use. The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which was signed into law in June, grants the Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate the manufacturing, marketing, and sale of tobacco products. A 62-cent per pack federal cigarette tax increase that went into effect on April 1 will serve as a lifesaving deterrent to the 46 million Americans who currently smoke and the 3,500 children who try their first cigarette every day.
ACS CAN, the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, supports evidence-based policy and legislative solutions designed to eliminate cancer as a major health problem. ACS CAN works to encourage elected officials and candidates to make cancer a top national priority. ACS CAN gives ordinary people extraordinary power to fight cancer with the training and tools they need to make their voices heard. For more information, visit www.fightcancer.org.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Christina Saull
Phone: (202) 585-3250
Email: [email protected]
Steven Weiss
Phone: (202) 661-5711
Email: [email protected]