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Parents magazine and the American Legacy Foundation(R) have teamed up to create Parents Quit for Good, a special quit plan for moms and dads powered by the foundation's cutting-edge online program, Become an EX(R). The free program launches just in time to help parents plan their New Year's resolutions to quit smoking.
This new collaboration will be featured in the February, March and April issues of Parents. Because smoking is undeniably one of the hardest addictions to break, it's important that parents know they aren't alone during the quitting process. Starting December 29, parents can visit www.ParentsQuitForGood.com, which offers moms and dads step-by-step assistance in identifying their own smoking triggers, advice on how to get through the day without cigarettes, and opportunities to connect with other parents trying to quit. Whether you smoke a pack a day or only light up occasionally, there's never been a better time to commit to quit.
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42 percent of U.S. children are still exposed to secondhand smoke each week, according to a new survey.
Secondhand smoke increases children's risk of developing asthma, ear infections and cavities and increases infants' risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
Among the other major findings from the Social Climate Survey of Tobacco:
* Seventy-five percent of American households forbid smoking in the home and car, but children in one-quarter of U.S. families aren't protected from secondhand smoke.
* Among parents who smoke, only 53.5 percent prohibit smoking in the home and only 22.5 percent forbid smoking in the family vehicle. . . .
The survey was released this week by the American Legacy Foundation, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and researchers from Mississippi State University.
Today's Supreme Court decision is an important step forward in a legal battle aimed at making sure Americans are told the truth about the devastating consequences of smoking. . . .
In a "friend of the court" brief, the American Legacy Foundation and other public health organizations educated the Court about the devastating health consequences of Philip Morris's fraudulent advertising practices. Since Philip Morris introduced Marlboro Lights in 1971, millions of people have switched to light cigarettes, including many who would have otherwise quit altogether. In fact, Marlboro Lights is now the best-selling brand in the nation. In Maine, where the lawsuit was brought, 1,900 children become new daily smokers every year. Nationally, of youth who are smokers, one in three will eventually die of a tobacco-related illness.
Today's decision follows on the heels of the Federal Trade Commission's recent rescission of its long-standing rule that enabled tobacco manufacturers to claim their "light" and "low-tar" labels were based on an FTC-approved testing method. The American Legacy Foundation urged the FTC to take the action to finally end the implied government endorsement of these misleading labels.
The truth is, light cigarettes can be just as harmful as regular cigarettes and the tobacco industry should no longer be permitted to mislead the American people into believing they are safe. Today's decision brings us one step closer to achieving this important public health goal.
Nearly half of all children in the United States are still exposed to secondhand smoke (SHS) each week, according to a new survey from the American Legacy Foundation®, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Julius B. Richmond Center of Excellence and researchers from Mississippi State University.
The groups say that while America has come a long way in changing the social perception of smoking in the past 10 years, children are still exposed to secondhand smoke at alarming rates, and they are encouraging parents who smoke to quit for good.
The Social Climate Survey of Tobacco found that 42 percent of children are exposed to SHS each week and there are public settings where children could be exposed that are still not smoke-free.
Parents magazine and the American Legacy Foundation® have teamed up to create Parents Quit for Good, a special quit plan for moms and dads powered by the foundation's cutting-edge online program, Become an EX®. The free program launches just in time to help parents plan their New Year's resolutions to quit smoking.
This new collaboration will be featured in the February, March and April issues of Parents. Because smoking is undeniably one of the hardest addictions to break, it's important that parents know they aren't alone during the quitting process. Starting December 29, parents can visit http://www.parentsquitforgood.com/, which offers moms and dads step-by-step assistance in identifying their own smoking triggers, advice on how to get through the day without cigarettes, and opportunities to connect with other parents trying to quit. Whether you smoke a pack a day or only light up occasionally, there's never been a better time to commit to quit.
Encouraging new data announced in today's Monitoring the Future study shows teen smoking rates are at their lowest levels in the survey's history. Among 8th, 10th and 12th graders - all groups surveyed each year by the study - teen smoking rates are at their lowest point since at least 1991. Students indicating cigarette use during the prior 30 days stands at 7 percent for 8th graders; 12 percent for 10th graders, and 20 percent for 12th graders, respectively. . . .
The public health community, doctors and parents must work together to foster a continued rate of decline. The Master Settlement Agreement reached in 1998 between attorneys general from 46 states, five US territories and the tobacco industry provided our country with a unique opportunity - and with focused funding -- to address youth smoking and help smokers who want to quit.
The American Legacy Foundation, the national public health foundation devoted to keeping young people from smoking and helping all smokers quit, has been committed to finding new ways to reach and engage with the teen audience, with the ultimate goal of reducing youth smoking prevalence. This is especially important as the tobacco industry continues to successfully market its products and addict new smokers.
New data from the federal government show that cigarette consumption in the U.S. has decreased by an estimated 28 percent, or 135 billion cigarettes, over the past decade, which marks a major milestone in public health and tobacco control, according to the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) and the American Legacy Foundation® - the nation's largest public health foundation dedicated to reducing tobacco use in the U.S.
Ten years after the state Attorneys General negotiated the landmark 1998 Master Settlement Agreement with tobacco companies, cigarette consumption has continued to decline and the landscape around tobacco use has shifted significantly. With November 23, 2008 marking the anniversary of the signing, the MSA should be recognized for the enormous impact it has had on cigarette consumption, the groups said.
"This settlement continues to send a strong message to the tobacco companies: Americans won't tolerate the marketing of this deadly product to our young people," said NAAG Tobacco Committee Co-Chair and Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna. "As a direct result of the work of the nation's attorneys general, today's kids are less exposed to pro-tobacco marketing like Joe Camel. Kids who still want tobacco products face ever-increasing roadblocks to obtaining them."
The Attorneys General point out that in the years immediately prior to the states' settlement agreements with the tobacco companies, cigarette sales in the United States had reached a plateau. By contrast, the ten-year decline in cigarette sales of 28 percent since the MSA is unprecedented.
According to data from the U.S. Tobacco Tax Bureau of the U.S. Treasury, the tobacco industry sold 480.5 billion sticks in 1997, compared with sales of 344.4 billion sticks projected for 2008. Additionally, cigarette consumption in 2007 (360.5 billion sticks) declined by five percent from 2006 levels (379.5 billion sticks). That reduction marks the largest one-year percentage decrease in cigarette sales since 1999. The data and projections are based on calculations by the NAAG'S Tobacco Project using Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau data combined with cigarette import data from U.S. Customs.
The American Legacy Foundation welcomes M. Cass Wheeler, CEO of the American Heart Association (AHA), to its board of directors. A respected leader in health advocacy, Wheeler brings to the task, decades of accomplishments and experience imperative to public health issues including the adverse effects of tobacco use.
Wheeler began his career with the AHA at its Austin, TX, affiliate in 1973, rising through the organization to become its chief executive officer in October 1997. Under his leadership, the AHA adopted a single corporate structure by merging its 56 state and metropolitan affiliates into eight regional affiliates. During his tenure, Wheeler helped the heart association experience its greatest period of financial growth, and also oversaw approval of an extensive health-impact goal that seeks to reduce coronary heart disease, stroke and risk by 25 percent by 2010.
oday, the Centers for Disease Control released a report announcing that adult smoking rates in the United States were down in 2007. The CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report indicated that 19.8 percent of U.S. adults (43.4 million people) were smokers in 2007, down from 20.8 percent in 2006.
While any decline in smoking rates is welcome news, this slow rate of decline is still a stark warning that the country is not likely to meet the national health objective of reaching a 12 percent adult smoking rate by the year 2010.
Causing additional worry is that, even in recent months, smokers have indicated that stress from the current national economic situation is affecting their smoking. . . .
Moreover, some former smokers report they are starting to smoke again because of the stress over the financial situation.
The foundation is also concerned about a second report released today by the CDC, warning that the decline in smoking rates is not keeping pace with the costs, both financial and health-related, that smoking takes on the U.S. population. That report indicated that smoking costs the nation $193 billion per year in health expenditures and productivity costs, up from a previous estimate of $167 billion. Exactly one year ago, Legacy released its Saving Lives, Saving Money II report, which found that America's Medicaid system could spend nearly $10 billion less within five years if all Medicaid beneficiaries who smoke, quit. With health care reform a major issue with the American public, it is wise to remember the long term economic costs tobacco use takes on our health care system - not to mention the untold emotional toll on American smokers and their families.
Now more than ever, smokers need reliable and relatable information about quitting. Earlier this year, Legacy and a coalition of public health groups launched EX®, a quit smoking program that encourages smokers to "re-learn life without cigarettes". The campaign aims to educate smokers about the daily triggers that make them want to smoke, and preps them how to overcome triggers with practice and preparation. Smokers can learn valuable tools to help them prepare for a quit attempt by visiting http://www.becomeanex.org/.
As we recognize Lung Cancer Awareness Month this month and prepare to mark the American Cancer Society's Great American Smoke Out next week, we urge smokers to take a serious look at their smoking triggers and behavior. Really understanding the roots and regular actions of their addiction can help smokers make more successful quit attempts.
It wasn't a scientific or medical breakthrough that helped Chicago native Grace Vincent cope as she waged a successful battle with breast cancer, only to learn of her husband's Stage IV lung cancer diagnosis. It wasn't countless hours in expensive psychotherapy that gave her the strength to help nurse her husband, Joseph Vincent, as he fought for his life. Rather, it was her faith in God and the Mayo African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Matteson, IL (a suburb of Chicago) that gave Vincent fortitude during the toughest time of her life.
"The simultaneous diagnoses that the doctors gave - me with breast cancer and my beloved husband with lung cancer - should have been a tragic day," Vincent said. "However, I have faith in God and I know that he will not put more on you than what you can handle, so I decided to not let cancer beat me down. I pledged I would be the strength and the rock that my family needed in order to get my husband through his difficult battle."
After her and her husband's cancer diagnoses, Vincent, then a smoker and mother of two, vowed to fight her addiction to tobacco. She made a plan to quit smoking and stay quit.
The month of November marks Lung Cancer Awareness Month
New data from the federal government show that cigarette consumption in the U.S. has decreased by an estimated 28 percent, or 135 billion cigarettes, over the past decade, which marks a major milestone in public health and tobacco control, according to the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) and the American Legacy Foundation(R) - the nation's largest public health foundation dedicated to reducing tobacco use in the U.S.
The Attorneys General point out that in the years immediately prior to the states' settlement agreements with the tobacco companies, cigarette sales in the United States had reached a plateau.
"To play this as some kind of victory over Big Tobacco really overlooks what it did and didn't do," Blum says. "It was a money grab."
Blum says the deal simply shifted money from tobacco companies to states -- many of which then failed to use it to fight smoking. . . .
"It's a bad deal," Blum says.
But Mike Moore, former Mississippi attorney general and a lead negotiator in the deal, defends the agreement. He says if nothing else, the lawsuits brought to light the fact that tobacco companies knew that cigarettes were deadly and addictive. Still, he acknowledges the industry is a formidable opponent, especially when it comes to creating a market.
"They still have a marketing campaign," Moore says. "They're all over the place. . . .
In the years since the settlement, tobacco firms have found new ways to reach customers. The companies are barred from sponsoring concerts, but on the Web, Philip Morris sponsors an American Idol-like band contest in a promotion called "The Best of Marlboro Country Music." There are promotions in night clubs, on college campuses, on the Internet and at the stores where cigarettes are sold.
"It's evolved to a more focused, direct one-to-one approach," says Bill Phelps, a spokesman for Altria, the parent company of Philip Morris, which is the world's top cigarette maker. "When was the last time you saw an ad for Marlboro? Marlboro is the biggest brand in the U.S., as big as the next 10 brands combined. I think there's still a perception that [people] see Marlboro advertising a great deal, but take a step back and think about it."
Phelps says the company tries to prevent exposure for unintended audiences, like children, by relying on direct marketing.
"Our database has more than 25 million names on it," he says. "Those are adults who already smoke and have said, 'I want to be on your database and receive information from you about your cigarette brands.'"
It all starts at smokersignup.com . . .
Another result of the tobacco settlement was the creation of the nonprofit American Legacy Foundation to fight smoking, requiring the tobacco industry to pay the organization $1.7 billion over 10 years.
American Marines and sailors are smoking at alarming levels these days. In a recent survey by the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), 64 percent of the 408 Marines and sailors surveyed reported using some form of tobacco. In contrast, about 20 percent of U.S., adults smoke. Historically, tobacco use has been linked to service in the military - some may see it as a stress reliever especially during times of deployment and tours of duty that extend beyond the traditional time frame.
To help the millions of smokers who want to quit, the American Legacy Foundation® has partnered with a host of state health agencies and other national organizations an innovative way to help all smokers quit. EX® is an unprecedented new public health campaign that works to change the way smokers feel about the difficult process of quitting and guide them to valuable, free resources to build and activate successful quit attempts. The program provides with tools to:
Today the American Legacy Foundation(R) -- the nation's largest public health foundation dedicated to reducing tobacco use in the U.S. -- announced the results of a new survey conducted on their behalf by Harris Interactive which found that stress about the ongoing financial downturn is having a clear and immediate effect on smokers.
Seventy-seven percent of current smokers report increased stress levels due to the current state of the economy and two-thirds of those smokers say this stress has had an effect on their smoking.
November marks Lung Cancer Awareness Month, a time when smokers might reflect on the life threatening nature of their addiction, yet this new data indicates smokers are suffering more than ever as stress is causing smokers to delay a quit attempt, increase the number of cigarettes they are smoking, or switch to a cheaper brand instead of quitting. Moreover, some former smokers report they are starting to smoke again because of the stress over the financial situation.
Today the American Legacy Foundation® - the nation's largest public health foundation dedicated to reducing tobacco use in the U.S. - announced the results of a new survey conducted on their behalf by Harris Interactive which found that stress about the ongoing financial downturn is having a clear and immediate effect on smokers.
November marks Lung Cancer Awareness Month, a time when smokers might reflect on the life threatening nature of their addiction, yet this new data indicates smokers are suffering more than ever as stress is causing smokers to delay a quit attempt, increase the number of cigarettes they are smoking, or switch to a cheaper brand instead of quitting. Moreover, some former smokers report they are starting to smoke again because of the stress over the financial situation. . . .
"We are especially concerned about how the economy is impacting those struggling to quit and stay quit," said Cheryl G. Healton, Dr. P.H., president and CEO of the American Legacy Foundation. The survey found that 7 percent of current smokers surveyed had started smoking again due to stress over the economic crisis, even though they had previously quit. Furthermore, 9 percent of stressed-out former smokers said the state of the economy had tempted them to start smoking again. Even more telling, 13 percent of stressed smokers say their stress about the economy has caused them to postpone their plans to quit. . . .
Financial stress is a prime smoking trigger and smokers can learn valuable tools to help them prepare for a quit attempt by visiting http://www.becomeanex.org/. The Web site features action-oriented tools and information to help smokers prepare for quitting by developing a personalized plan, as well offering a virtual community, where smokers can reach out to others for support and to share stories about their quit attempts.