Thanks Central Region Grantees for a Great 2008 Conference

Check the Web if you want no smoke

By TAMMIE SMITH
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Consumers looking for a smoke-free place to have a meal can find that information on the Virginia Department of Health's restaurant-inspections Web site.
The state agency recently added information on fast-food and full-service restaurants' smoking policies.
To check a restaurant's most recent health inspection or its smoking status, go to www.vdh.virginia.gov and click on restaurant inspections.
"During the last couple of years, there have been several bills in the General Assembly that haven't made it through that ban smoking in restaurants," said Gary Hagy, food and environmental services division director at the state Health Department. "That has created a lot of interest by the public. We have gotten letters expressing the desire for restaurants to be nonsmoking. So we decided the least we could do is get some information out."
Hagy said there was already a category to indicate a restaurant's smoking status in the databases used to compile information on inspections.
"We asked our vendor to figure out a way to put this on the Web in a meaningful manner," Hagy said .
The new information indicates whether a facility bans smoking, permits it in designated areas or permits it anywhere on premises. The site also tells consumers what percentage of a locality's fast food and full-service eating establishments are smoke-free. For instance, Richmond, Henrico County and Chesterfield County show 57 percent, 69 percent and 54 percent of restaurants smoke-free, respectively.
Since 2003, the state Health Department's Web site has included food-safety information about restaurants and other food-service facilities based on the more than 60,000 unannounced restaurant inspections done in a year.
State officials say consumers can expect about a week's delay between the time a restaurant inspection report is entered into the database and when the new information will appear on the Web site. Restaurant-smoking-status information can be updated more quickly.
Contact Tammie Smith at (804) 649-6572 or TLsmith@timesdispatch.com.

Virginia's Investment in Tobacco Prevention is Delivering Dramatic Results and Should be Expanded

Statement of William V. Corr, Executive Director, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids

WASHINGTON, Sept. 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new survey of youth tobacco use in Virginia shows that the state has made great progress in keeping kids from smoking, underscoring once again that tobacco prevention is a smart investment for Virginia's physical and financial health. The Youth Tobacco Survey found a dramatic 28.6 percent decline in high school smoking over two years - with 15.5 percent of Virginia high school students smoking in 2007, compared with 21.7 percent in 2005. By preventing kids from ever starting to smoke, Virginia can look forward to saving lives by preventing premature, smoking-caused deaths and to saving money by reducing smoking-caused health care costs, which total more than $2 billion a year in Virginia.
This is remarkable progress in a short period of time. We applaud Governor Kaine, the Legislature and the Virginia Tobacco Settlement Foundation for their commitment to reducing the devastating toll of tobacco use by investing in youth tobacco prevention efforts. Virginias challenge now is to build upon its progress by increasing funding for youth tobacco prevention while also investing in cessation programs to help adult smokers quit.
While the survey results represent remarkable progress, there is still much to be done in Virginia to reduce tobacco use - the number one preventable cause of death in the state and across the nation. Currently, Virginia spends $14.5 million a year on tobacco prevention and cessation, well short of the $103.2 million recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (the CDC updated its recommendations for state spending in 2007). Virginia receives $320 million a year in revenue from the tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes and can achieve even greater smoking reductions by spending more of its tobacco revenue on tobacco prevention and cessation programs.

For the full story and credits: http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20080909/pl_usnw/virginia_s_investment_in_tobacco_prevention_is_delivering_dramatic_results_and_should_be_expanded

Submit an Abstract for Presentation at the 2009 National Conference!

You are invited to submit abstracts online for presentation at the 2009 National Conference on Tobacco or Health, June 10–12, in Phoenix, AZ!The purpose of the National Conference on Tobacco or Health is to improve and sustain the effectiveness and reach of tobacco control programs and activities in the United States. Whether you are a student, program manager, researcher, or seasoned advocate; or whether you work at the local, state, or national level, the 2009 National Conference welcomes your abstract submission(s).


We are seeking papers addressing twelve program areas:

Cessation
Communication and Media
Evaluation and Surveillance
Increasing Diversity / Eliminating Disparities
International Tobacco Control
Legal Issues
Nicotine and the Science of Addiction
Non-Cigarette Tobacco and Nicotine Products
Tobacco Control Movement—Skills Building
Tobacco Control Policies
Tobacco Industry
Youth

The abstract submission deadline is November 14, 2008.

A Special Youth Scholarship Opportunity from Prevention Connections!

VTSF's nonprofit sister organization, Prevention Connections, is seeking nominations for its first annual Virginia Youth Advocate of the Year Award! We're looking for outstanding rising high school seniors who are making a difference in youth tobacco-use prevention and reduction in Virginia. The award includes a $2,500 college scholarship! Nominations must be received by Sept. 12. The winner will be announced on Sept. 24 at VTSF's annual grantee conference at the Newport News Marriott.

Download the Nomination Form

New Study Finds California’s Tobacco Control Program Has Saved Billions in Medical Costs

Shows Why States Should Increase Funding for Such Programs
Statement of William V. Corr
Executive Director, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids

Washington, DC (August 26, 2008) – A new scientific study being published this week finds that California’s state tobacco control program saved $86 billion (in 2004 dollars) in personal health care costs in its first 15 years and provides important new evidence for states to increase spending on tobacco prevention and cessation programs. This study demonstrates powerfully that state tobacco prevention and cessation programs are smart, cost-effective investments that not only improve health and save lives, but also save money by dramatically reducing health care costs for government, businesses and families. It should spur states to significantly increase funding for tobacco prevention and cessation programs with the $25 billion in revenue they collect each year from the tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes.

The new study was conducted by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, and published in the August 25, 2008, online issue of the peer-reviewed medical journal PLoS Medicine (published by the Public Library of Science, or PLoS). Between 1989, when the state-funded California Tobacco Control Program began, and 2004, when the study ended, the program saved $86 billion in personal health care costs, while the state spent $1.8 billion on the program, for a 50-to-1 return on investment, according to the study. The program prevented 3.6 billion packs of cigarettes from being smoked during this period, the researchers found.

These dramatic cost savings came even as funding for California’s tobacco control program was reduced substantially in the mid-1990s. If funding had remained consistent with the program’s early years, California’s total health care cost savings could have reached $156 billion, according to the researchers. The researchers attribute the savings to declines in tobacco-related diseases in California, especially heart disease, cancer and lung diseases, that have far exceeded national declines.
The California study adds to the already overwhelming evidence from scientific studies and states’ results that tobacco prevention and cessation programs work to reduce smoking among both youth and adults, save lives and save money. Just last week, the National Cancer Institute issued a comprehensive, 684-page report, titled The Role of the Media in Promoting and Reducing Tobacco Use, that concluded that mass media campaigns are effective at reducing tobacco use, especially when combined with school and community programs. The NCI report found that such programs can change youth attitudes about tobacco use, prevent youth from starting to smoke and encourage adult cessation.

This overwhelming evidence that state tobacco prevention and cessation programs work and deliver so many health and financial benefits leaves elected leaders with no excuse for failing to fund such programs in every state at levels recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Despite the success of these cost-effective programs, too often they have been among the first targets for budget cuts whenever states have faced budget deficits, as they do now. This new study shows why states should increase funding for tobacco prevention programs and why cutting funding for them is penny-wise and pound-foolish. The decision to properly fund these programs should be an easy one:

· The problem is huge and warrants urgent action. Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, resulting in 400,000 premature deaths and costing the nation nearly $100 billion in health care bills each year. These expenditures include $65 billion under state and federal health care programs such as Medicaid, amounting to hidden tax of $575 on every American household.

· We know the solution works. Comprehensive, well-funded state tobacco prevention and cessation programs are highly effective, especially when combined with higher tobacco taxes and smoke-free workplace laws.

· States have the revenue. The states will collect about $25 billion this year in revenue from the tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes. It would take just 15 percent of this revenue for each state to fund a tobacco prevention and cessation program at the CDC’s recommended levels. Right now, the states are spending less than 3 percent.

· The public supports it. Poll after poll shows that Americans strongly believe tobacco settlement and tax dollars should be spent on tobacco prevention.

Despite the overwhelming evidence that state tobacco prevention and cessation programs are highly effective when they are funded appropriately, only three states currently fund these programs at even the minimum level recommended by the CDC (www.tobaccofreekids.org/reports/settlements/). This is part of the reason that declines in both youth and adult smoking in the United States have stalled in recent years. With the tobacco companies spending more $13.4 billion per year marketing their deadly products, it is imperative that state leaders act now to fund programs that we know work to prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit.

To viewUCSF's press release: http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/18444

Toview the full study: http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pmed.0050178

Study Affirms Health Benefits of Smoking Bans

A study in this week's New England Journal of Medicine suggests that public smoking bans can significantly reduce hospital admissions for acute coronary syndrome (ACS), particularly among nonsmokers, the Wall Street Journal reports. To determine how such bans affect public health, a team of Scottish researchers collected information on smoking status and exposure from patients admitted to any of nine Scottish hospitals for ACS in the 10 months preceding the March 2006 enactment of a law that banned smoking in all enclosed public spaces throughout the country. They then compared those results against information collected during the same period the next year. Between the two study periods, the number of hospitalizations for ACS decreased by 17 percent, from 3,235 patients to 2,684 patients, with 67 percent of the reduction attributed to nonsmokers. In comparison, hospital admissions for ACS in Scotland had fallen by an average of only 3 percent annually during the decade preceding the study. Examining the study results by smoking status, the researchers found that ACS admissions following the smoking ban decreased by 14 percent among smokers, 19 percent among former smokers and 21 percent among people who had never smoked. In addition, people who had never smoked reported a decrease in exposure to secondhand smoke following the ban's enactment. Researchers then confirmed those reports through blood and saliva tests for cotinine, a metabolic product of nicotine. Based on their findings, the researchers conclude that public smoking bans improve health, particularly in terms of ACS risk. U.S. public health experts, meanwhile, called the results the strongest evidence to date of this benefit, and the director of the Community Health Program at Tufts University and the president of Americans for Nonsmokers Rights said the study "should add considerable oomph to the pressure for smoking bans" elsewhere (Singer-Vine, Wall Street Journal, 7/31/08 [subscription required]; Pell et al., New England Journal of Medicine, 7/31/08 [subscription required]).