Adult smoking rate plunges in Mass. (MA)
The Massachusetts Department of Health reports that the state’s smoking prevalence decreased by 8% in 2007. This is the latest data from an overall decline in smoking from 27.8% in 1986 to an all-time low of 16.4% in 2007. Smoking among teens has decreased dramatically from 20.5% in 2006 to 17.7% in 2007. The progress in reducing smoking rates has been attributed to a revitalization of public health efforts, including a major statewide television ad campaign promoting the state quitline. State officials predict that the recent $1 tobacco tax increase will cause a further decline in smoking in the coming year. In the first month since the tax increase was implemented, calls to the state quitline spiked from 400-500 calls a month to 7,000 calls. Find out more here.

Less smoke getting into Arkansans' eyes (AR)
The Arkansas Department of Health reports that the state’s overall smoking prevalence has gone down, fewer youth are smoking, and hospital costs for smoking-related illnesses have dropped. From 2002-2007, the overall smoking rate dropped from 26.3% to 22.4%, while smoking among youths plunged from 34.7% to 20.7% between 2001 and 2007. The progress could be attributed to the state’s indoor smoking ban in 2006, or the statewide prevention campaign funded by a reserve of $1.6 billion in tobacco settlement money. There is also a possibility that state representative, Gene Shelby, will propose a 50 cent tobacco tax increase in the upcoming year. Click here for more information.

Smoking prevalence among women of reproductive age — United States, 2006
According to 2006 data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), there are vast state-to-state differences in smoking prevalence among women of reproductive age (18-44). The national median smoking prevalence was 22.4% with a range of 5.8% in the U.S. Virgin Islands to 34.7% in Kentucky. Current smoking prevalence was highest among non-Hispanic whites, those with a high school education or less, and divorced, widowed, or separated women. These variations are likely due to differences in socioeconomic determinants of smoking, differing social norms around tobacco use and, variation in implementation of tobacco control programs and policies in states. The prevention and reduction of tobacco use among women of reproductive age are essential to reducing the burden of reproductive health complications from smoking, adverse health effects of children’s exposure to secondhand smoke, and improvement in the life expectancy of the women themselves. Click here to see the full article in the August 8 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

National Cancer Institute’s Tobacco Control Monograph 19: The role of the media in promoting and reducing tobacco use
This National Cancer Institute (NCI) report provides the most current and comprehensive summary of the scientific literature regarding the power of the media both to encourage and to discourage tobacco use. The report is part of the NCI’s Tobacco Control Monograph series examining critical issues in tobacco prevention and control. It is an exceptional new resource for those working on tobacco counter-marketing campaigns. The monograph recognizes key ways the nation can reduce tobacco consumption through mass media and makes important conclusions about how that can be accomplished. Based on a review of over 1,000 research articles, the report concludes that tobacco marketing does increase tobacco use, but mass media countermarketing campaigns and bans on tobacco advertising work to reduce tobacco use. Click here to read a press release from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, or click here to access the NCI website, which includes translations of the monograph in several languages, a media toolkit, and fact sheets tailored to the media, the general public, and policymakers.

The world's heaviest-smoking countries
Financial magazine Forbes has compiled a photographic tour of countries with the highest smoking rates in the world. In addition, the negative economic impact of smoking was calculated in terms of the amount of the nation’s gross national income lost to smoking. Most developing countries do not incur their economic burden from national medical programs (such as Medicare) that address smoking-related health conditions, since these programs simply do not exist. Rather, these countries’ economic burden stems from years of productivity lost to early deaths from smoking. Click here to read more.

California Tobacco Control Program saved billions of dollars (CA)
Study demonstrates that billions of dollars were saved in health care costs between 1989 and 2004 due to California’s implementation of Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs as recommended by the CDC.  The study adds to earlier work that demonstrates that comprehensive tobacco prevention and cessation programs reduce smoking and are cost-effective.  You can use this study to demonstrate to the media and decision-makers that comprehensive tobacco prevention and cessation programs are wise investments that should be funded at the level recommended by CDC.  To view the press release, click here.

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