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There is strong evidence that half of all deaths in the U.S. can be attributed to behavioral factors such as smoking, poor diet, overeating, and physical inactivity. In addition, behavioral and social factors contribute to the staggering costs of preventable morbidity and mortality.
Even with the dramatic contributions that behavioral and social sciences research has made to date, much more needs to be done to understand the role of behavioral and social factors in disease and, in turn, to use that knowledge to improve the nation's health.
Behavioral and social sciences research is critical to improving public health overall, but is especially important in addressing youth smoking prevention and adult tobacco cessation. Tobacco use is the single most avoidable cause of disease, disability, and death in the United States. Eighty percent of all smokers have their first cigarette before age 18 and 90 percent start smoking before age 20. Within days or weeks of smoking your first cigarette, symptoms of nicotine dependence may appear. Although nearly half of all smokers attempt to quit each year, less than 5% are successful, with the majority going back to smoking within just seven days.
As we examine how to reverse the tobacco epidemic in this country, we must pay special attention to the role of behavior change.
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The American Legacy Foundation applauds the California Tobacco Control Program (CTCP) for achieving powerful progress in changing adult smoking behavior - reducing adult smoking and rapidly decreasing health care costs. New research presented in PLoS Medicine, a peer reviewed open access journal published by the Public Library of Science, shows that CTCP's strategic approach designed to change social norms towards smoking and the tobacco industry is remarkably effective and generates rapid results.
These findings, achieved through an innovative methodology called co-integrating regression, mirror American Legacy Foundation findings from last fall indicating that effective smoking prevention and cessation programs could cut state Medicaid costs by 5.6 percent. The report, Saving Lives, Saving Money II, showed that America's Medicaid system could spend nearly $10 billion less within five years if all Medicaid beneficiaries who smoke, quit. Numerous studies consistently confirm that states stand to save billions of dollars and millions of lives by investing in proven effective tobacco control programs. The results from California show that the health care savings from reducing smoking are probably even larger than previously estimated.
The American Legacy Foundation applauds Chad Bullock for his win at the 10th annual Teen Choice Award ceremony. Bullock took home the "Do Something Award," along with $100,000. Bullock's passion and diligence around tobacco control began as a small child living in Durham, North Carolina, being raised around tall tobacco warehouses, and seeing cigarette ads on a daily basis. It was around this time when he lost his great-grandfather from lung cancer. The unfortunate event served as the catalyst for his role in tobacco control.
The American Legacy Foundation is honored to have Bullock as a member of its Youth Activism Council (YAC). The group of college-age leaders represents diverse communities and youth activism organizations. YAC serves as internal advisors to the Foundation, and the members work as passionate tobacco control advocates in their communities. Bullock was chosen from a competitive field of nominees and will continue to help Legacy creatively and effectively convey the health risks of using tobacco products to young people, as well as help provide training and resources to other organizations working in public health.
A comprehensive report released today from the National Cancer Institute - the leading federal agency on cancer research - provides the government's strongest conclusion to date on the media's powerful and causal effect on tobacco use. The report, Monograph 19 - The Role of the Media in Promoting and Reducing Tobacco Use, concluded what we in public health have known for many years: depictions of smoking in movies and tobacco marketing promote youth smoking. These facts are nonetheless illuminating because they are now recognized for the first time as fact by our federal government.
The report provides the ammunition to tobacco control advocates around the world who are fighting to keep movies smoke-free. . . .
The report also lends further credibility to existing media campaigns that have been proven to curb youth smoking, such as the foundation's award-winning truth(R) campaign. . . .
Obviously, in a rapidly changing digital landscape, understanding the role of media in reducing or promoting tobacco use is critically important as we continue working to fight the tobacco epidemic. With limited resources, the truth(R) campaign is reaching teens from big cities to rural towns in ways we didn't imagine 10 years ago. Youth get a dose of truth(R) on social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook, on the road at popular teen concerts throughout the summer and through ads on television and in theaters prior to movies.
Leaders from the federal government and the nation's public health community today announced the release of an authoritative National Cancer Institute report that reaches the government's strongest conclusion to date that tobacco marketing and depictions of smoking in movies promote youth smoking. The 684-page report, The Role of the Media in Promoting and Reducing Tobacco Use, presents definitive conclusions that a) tobacco advertising and promotion are causally related to increased tobacco use, and b) exposure to depictions of smoking in movies is causally related to youth smoking initiation.
The report also concludes that mass media campaigns can reduce smoking, especially when combined with other tobacco control strategies. However, youth smoking prevention campaigns sponsored by the tobacco industry have been generally ineffective and may actually have increased youth smoking.
This report provides the most current and comprehensive analysis of more than 1,000 scientific studies on the role of the media in encouraging and discouraging tobacco use. The report is Monograph 19 in the National Cancer Institute's Tobacco Control Monograph series . . .
The editors of the monograph outline several steps that have been proposed to reduce use of the media in promoting tobacco use and increase its use in discouraging tobacco use, including:
-- Impose a comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising and promotion;
-- Adequately fund mass media campaigns and protect them from tobacco industry efforts to impede them;
-- Monitor tobacco industry activities including public relations and advertising expenditures in a changing media environment;
-- Use research to inform tobacco control policy and program decisions;
-- Place anti-tobacco advertisements before films to partially counter the impact of tobacco portrayals in movies; and
-- Increase public awareness of tobacco industry attempts to shut down public health campaigns.
The American Legacy Foundation commends the Navajo Nation Tribal Council on their efforts to ban commercial tobacco use in all public places. The Navajo Commercial Tobacco-Free Act of 2008 will help to extend and save the lives of thousands of tribal members. This unprecedented measure will serve as the catalyst for the improvement of major health disparities in tribal communities.
While tobacco has played an honored ceremonial role in the lives of Native Americans for centuries, current rates of commercial tobacco use among Native Americans are alarmingly high. Thirty-two percent of all adult Native Americans smoke in comparison with a 20.8 percent adult smoking rate nationwide. In 2005, thirty-six percent of teens in the Navajo Nation were current smokers. These rates far exceed other minority/ethnic groups and measures like this one are vital to curbing tobacco consumption and saving lives. Cardiovascular disease is the primary cause of death in the U.S. among Native Americans.
The significant efforts to create smoke-free reservations, casinos, indoor and outdoor areas are timely; they will also reduce the harmful effects of secondhand smoke and simultaneously encourage Native American smokers to quit.
The American Legacy Foundation(R) -- a national public health foundation dedicated to reducing tobacco use in the U.S. -- is proud to announce a new lecture series on tobacco policy and enforcement in honor of Vermont Attorney General William H. Sorrell. The series serves as an expression of gratitude for Sorrells six years of dedicated service and leadership on Legacys board of directors, and for his longtime work and commitment to reducing tobacco use in the U.S.
Through a $200,000 endowment to the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) Mission Foundation, the new William H. Sorrell Lecture Series on Tobacco Policy and Enforcement will include an annual lecture by a nationally recognized expert in tobacco policy or enforcement during one of NAAGs three annual meetings. Tobacco control is a core issue NAAG members are engaged in, and the lecture series will ensure NAAG members hear firsthand regarding innovative research, key policy initiatives, or other issues in tobacco control from leading experts in the public health field. . . .
On behalf of our President, Attorney General Patrick Lynch, the National Association of Attorneys General is truly honored and grateful for the generosity of the American Legacy Foundation and its support of the work of Attorneys General in enforcing the provisions of the 1998 Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement through the establishment of the William H. Sorrell Lecture series, NAAG Executive Director Jim McPherson said.
As the first gift of its kind in the history of our 100-year-old Association, this endowment will allow NAAG to continue to provide Attorneys General and their staffs with invaluable opportunities for intellectual debate, discussion and understanding of tobacco-related topics.
Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller has been appointed to the board of directors for the American Legacy Foundation®, a national public health foundation dedicated to reducing tobacco use in the U.S. Miller was a prominent figure in the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) between tobacco companies and 46 states and five U.S. territories, which resulted in the companies paying billions of dollars to the states and put strong limitations on the tactics the tobacco companies use to advertise and market their deadly products to young people.
Dr. Benjamin Chu, president of the Southern California Region of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals, has been appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors of the American Legacy Foundation, the national, independent public health foundation dedicated to building a world where young people reject tobacco and anyone can quit. Dr. Chu is one of the three medical doctors who serve on the 11-member American Legacy Foundation Board.
Dr. Chu takes over the foundation leadership at a pivotal point in time for the public health foundation
Today, the California Governor's office announced that anti-smoking public service announcements (PSAs) developed by the state will be included in youth-rated DVD movies from several major Hollywood studios. The American Legacy Foundation®, a national public health foundation dedicated to reducing tobacco use in the U.S, applauds the state of California for joining in the nationwide effort to educate youth on the dangers of tobacco use. Moreover, as young people continue to be exposed to tobacco images on screen and on television, the effort to reach them in this way is critical.
Dr. Chu takes over the foundation leadership at a pivotal point in time for the public health foundation, which is devoted to preventing our nation's youth from starting to smoke and helping Americans quit smoking. The foundation is facing a decrease in funding, having received its last major payment resulting from the Master Settlement Agreement in 2003.
Today, the California Governor's office announced that anti-smoking public service announcements (PSAs) developed by the state will be included in youth-rated DVD movies from several major Hollywood studios. The American Legacy Foundation(R), a national public health foundation dedicated to reducing tobacco use in the U.S., applauds the state of California for joining in the nationwide effort to educate youth on the dangers of tobacco use. Moreover, as young people continue to be exposed to tobacco images on screen and on television, the effort to reach them in this way is critical.
More than half of youth-rated movies contain smoking, and research shows these images can influence 200,000 new youth smokers a year. As a result, the foundation and a host of national health organizations - including the American Heart Association, American Medical Association, American Lung Association and more - have long supported including anti-smoking PSAs before movies with smoking, along with other smoke-free movies policies.
The foundation is delighted that the California Department of Health, a well-respected leader in state tobacco control has joined this important life-saving initiative. Over
ongs from the current truth® advertising campaign will be getting a new twist this summer when nine innovative and well-known DJs and bands put new spins on the songs by re-mixing them in styles from house and hip-hop to electro. As part of the truth® "ReMix" project, DJs and bands such as Cobra Starship, Diplo, Kaskade, Mix Master Mike and more will re-mix songs from the "Sunny Side of truth®" - the current advertising campaign from the nation's largest youth smoking prevention campaign. The ReMix music tracks will then be packaged as a special CD compilation and available for download online as part of a comprehensive effort to reach more of the teen audience through technology and alternative media & entertainment outlets already popular with teens.
Just because cigarette sales have been steadily falling in recent years doesn't mean the tobacco industry is going up in smoke.
On the contrary, sales of other tobacco products, such as snuff, snus, roll-your-owns and especially cigars are on the rise, according to a new Harvard University study.
"FTC Test method."
The American Legacy Foundation(R) commends the FTC for its proposal to prohibit tobacco companies from claiming it endorses the thoroughly discredited "Cambridge Testing Method" for determining tar and nicotine content in cigarettes.
The tobacco companies have used the test and the claim of FTC endorsement to successfully market and sell so-called "light" and "low-tar" cigarettes to millions of smokers under the pretense that they are less dangerous, when in fact, they have known for years that these products are no safer than traditional cigarettes.
The fraudulent marketing of light cigarettes was one of the key elements of the U.S. District Court's decision that the tobacco companies had violated federal racketeering laws. . . .
Due to the seriousness of the problem, we urge the next step to be taken and the use of light and low tar and similar descriptors be prohibited altogether.