State

Puerto Rico: A Success Story of Comprehensive Approaches to Tobacco Control Work
A new document from the National Latino Tobacco Control Network and several partners summarizes the comprehensive approach to tobacco control that has been successful in Puerto Rico. Despite limited funding, the tobacco control program has worked to change cultural norms related to tobacco use, implemented a quitline, and has leveraged community support through coalitions in order to achieve several recent legislative victories. Puerto Rico’s strategies include data collection, research and evaluation, programs to reduce the burden of disease caused by tobacco, school based programs, passage and implementation of strict laws, raising tobacco taxes, community and state based programs and coalitions, counter-marketing campaigns, cessation services, and strong public-private partnerships and collaboration. This document is available in English and Spanish. Click here to read the full report.

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National

Tobacco Control State Highlights 2010
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have released a new report, Tobacco Control State Highlights 2010, detailing each state’s progress in reducing smoking rates.  The report is meant to help states develop and implement new tobacco control strategies and evaluate current efforts.  State-specific data demonstrate how each state is performing with regard to tobacco control, showing successes and areas for improvement. The data can be used by decision makers to determine how to advance tobacco control policies and programs. Click here to access the new document, or view highlights by state. Click here to read an article about the findings.

State cigarette minimum price laws, United States, 2009
A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) details state minimum price laws for cigarettes. The CDC found that minimum price laws were in effect in 25 states as of the end of 2009, seven of which prohibited the use of trade discounts in the calculation of the minimum retail price. States’ markup on the wholesale price of cigarettes ranged from 2.00% to 6.50%, with a median markup of 4.00%. The markup on retail prices ranged from 6% to 25%, with a median markup of 8%. Using trade discounts to calculate the minimum retail price was prohibited in seven states, allowed in fourteen, and is not expressly banned or permitted in the remaining four. Click here to read the full article in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).

Adult Tobacco Survey, nineteen states, 2003-2007
A new CDC report in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly (MMWR) describes the results of the Adult Tobacco Survey, a state-administered random survey of the adult U.S. population. The survey collects data on tobacco use, cessation, secondhand smoke exposure, risk perception, social and health influences, and tobacco-related policy issues. During 2003-2007, among the nineteen states represented in the ATS, approximately 19.2% of adults smoked cigarettes, 6.4% smoked cigars, and 3.5% used smokeless tobacco. Overall, 58.4% of cigarette smokers reported they intend to try to quit in the next six months, and 46.8% had made a quit attempt in the past year. Many respondents were supportive of smoking bans in workplaces (77.6%), restaurants (65.5%), public buildings (72.5%), and indoor sporting events or concerts (72.1%), while fewer respondents supported smoking bans in bars (33.1%). Click here to read the full report. A guide to the report’s data tables on NTCP goals and corresponding key outcome indicators measured in the ATS can be found here.

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International

China wrestles with tobacco control - an interview with Dr Yang Gonghuan (China)
This month’s Bulletin of the World Health Organization includes an interview about tobacco control in China with Dr. Yang Gonghuan, the deputy director general of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention and director of China’s National Office of Tobacco Control. The current policies, progress, public and government support, and challenges to moving forward are all discussed. Click here to read the interview.

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