Cigarette smoking among adults --- United States, 2007
Just prior to the Great American Smokeout, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the latest data on the smoking prevalence among adults. In 2007, 19.8% of American adults were cigarette smokers, which is a statistically significant difference from the 2006 smoking prevalence of 20.8%. Of those who smoked every day, 39.8% had succeeded in quitting smoking for at least one day in the past year. Although this is the lowest smoking rate in the past 40 years, smoking rates haven’t dramatically changed since 2004, when the CDC reported that 20.9% of adults were smokers. Significantly more work needs to be done in order to achieve the CDC’s Healthy People 2010 goal of reducing the prevalence of smoking to 12% or less. Click here to access the article in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Click here to read a news report on the findings.

A decade of broken promises: The 1998 state tobacco settlement ten years later
On the tenth anniversary of Master Settlement Agreement, the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids has released new statistics ranking state spending on tobacco control programs. After ten years and 246 billion dollars, the amount spent on tobacco prevention is still dramatically less than the amount that has been paid to states by tobacco companies. States have only directed about 3.2% of the money generated from taxes and legal settlements to prevention efforts. This year, there are no states that meet the CDC recommendations for tobacco prevention program funding, and only nine states’ even provide half of the recommended funding. To make matters worse, restrictions on tobacco marketing from the tobacco settlement have not significantly curtailed tobacco industry promotions; in fact, tobacco marketing expenditures grew 98% from 1998 to 2005. Click here to read a summary of the report’s key findings. The full report, an executive summary, and a chart of state rankings can also be downloaded from the CTFK website. The report was released in conjunction with the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Heart Association, American Lung Association and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The tobacco settlement, 10 years later
In November, National Public Radio aired a series on tobacco control, coinciding with the 10-year anniversary of the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement and a recent CDC report of the lowest U.S. smoking prevalence in years. While the tobacco settlement has changed the way tobacco companies operate, many states have spent little of their settlement money on tobacco control, and tobacco remains the leading cause of death in the U.S. Click here to access the NPR website, which features audio feeds, transcripts, and articles. States' use of tobacco money varies widely In a nine-minute report that aired on NPR’s “All Things Considered” November 17, Washington was cited as a state that has used its tobacco settlement money wisely, and some of the state’s innovative approaches to reducing smoking were featured.  The radio show profiled a Head Start project in King County that integrated cessation services for parents, and included comments from Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire and Paul Zemann, Seattle-King County Public Health director.  An audio feed and written transcript of the report are available here.

New STATE System fact sheets from CDC, Office of Smoking and Health
The Centers for Disease Control Office on Smoking and Health announces new facts sheets to update the State Tobacco Activities Tracking and Evaluation (STATE) System. The STATE System is an electronic resource that provides historical and current state-level data and statistics on tobacco prevention and control. The fact sheets on state excise taxes and smokefree laws have been updated to describe current legislation as of December 31, 2007. Two new fact sheets will soon be posted on the website with information on state preemption of local smokefree regulations and state smokefree laws for daycare and childcare centers. Click here  to access the fact sheet on preemption, and click here to download the smokefree daycare centers fact sheet. To navigate to the STATE System website, which allows users to generate reports on state comparisons, trends, and tobacco control highlights, click here.

Sustainability beyond dollars:  Organizations achieving long-term success in community-based tobacco control
This new report from the American Legacy Foundation is the fifth report in a series of publications highlighting sustainable tobacco control practices among Legacy’s grantees. Using case examples from five of Legacy’s past grantees, the report illustrates how many factors, other than funding, can influence a program’s sustainability. These examples demonstrate how organizations can face the challenges of building a sustainable program by taking a broad, planned approach to sustainability. Click here to read more. Click here to navigate to Legacy’s Dissemination webpage, which offers highlights of sustainable projects and publications of findings, including the latest sustainability report.

Maximizing our nation’s investment in cancer:  Three crucial actions for America’s health
This report from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, National Institutes of Health, and National Cancer Institute was submitted to the President of the United States in September 2008. The report recommends the following three recommendations to reduce the health burden of cancer in the United States:  make reducing the cancer burden a national priority; ensure that all Americans have timely access to needed health care and disease prevention measures; and end the scourge of tobacco in the United States. This report describes the current state of cancer research and prevention, fully outlines the three recommendations above, and issues a call to action for leaders to prioritize cancer prevention. Click here to download the report.

Announcement:  Over 14,000 new documents in the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library The Legacy Tobacco Documents Library is a valuable tobacco control research tool with over 9.7 million documents from tobacco companies that describe their advertising, manufacturing, marketing, sales, and scientific research. The latest addition to the library adds another 212,782 pages to total over 50 million pages of tobacco industry documents. There are new documents from R.J. Reynolds, Lorillard, Brown and Williamson, and Philip Morris. Click here to navigate to the LTDL homepage, or click here to browse the newly posted documents.

top

International

Tobacco control: major initiative launched in Africa
In November, international tobacco control leaders announced the formation of the Africa Tobacco Control Regional Initiative (ATCRI). The initiative has support from Cancer Research UK and the American Cancer Society (ACS), and is headed by the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth, Nigeria (ERA/FoEN). ATCRI will be a multinational coalition that will coordinate tobacco control throughout Africa. A project of this scale is unprecedented in Africa. Since tobacco use has decreased in wealthier nations, tobacco companies have redirected their efforts to developing countries. The World Health Organization reports that 70% of deaths due to tobacco use occur in developing countries. The announcement of the ATCRI was made just prior to the Conference of the Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which hosted delegates from the 160 FCTC-ratifying countries, and was held on November 17-22 in Durban, South Africa. Click here for more information.

Back to Table of Contents