State

NYC says smoking deaths drop 17 percent in eight years (NY)
The New York City Health Department has released data that indicate that smoking-related deaths have decreased by 17% over the past eight years, with the total number of smokers dropping by 27% in the same time period. The largest reductions in mortality were in cardiovascular disease, cancer, and respiratory disease. The declines in smoking-related deaths and the number of smokers occurred as many citywide tobacco control measures were initiated. These include the 2002 Smoke-Free Air Act, the distribution of nicotine replacement therapies since 2003, and educational campaigns about the harmful effects of tobacco since 2006. Click here or here to read more.

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National

State-specific prevalence of cigarette smoking and smokeless tobacco use among adults-United States, 2009
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have released a new Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) detailing the prevalence of cigarette smoking and smokeless tobacco use in each state. Researchers analyzed data from the 2009 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) on tobacco use from 432,607 adults in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Current smoking prevalence was found to be highest in Kentucky, West Virginia, and Oklahoma and lowest in Utah, California, Puerto Rico, and Guam. Smoking was more prevalent among men than women in all states and territories. Smokeless tobacco use prevalence was highest in Wyoming, West Virginia, and Mississippi. Seven of thirteen states with the highest prevalence of smoking also had among the highest prevalence of smokeless tobacco use (Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and West Virginia). This report shows the wide variation by state of tobacco use in the U.S., and indicates that few states and territories have met the Healthy People 2010 objective of reducing adult cigarette smoking to 12%. None have met the objective of reducing smokeless tobacco use to 0.4%. Click here to read more and to click here to view the report, which includes a state by state breakdown of tobacco use.

Prevalence of selected risk behaviors and chronic diseases and conditions - Steps communities, United States, 2006-2007
In this Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describe the prevalence of chronic disease and conditions, health risk behaviors, and preventive health practices of adult members of Steps communities that had received funding to address chronic diseases and related risk factors. Researchers used a modified version of the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey in 2006 and 2007 to collect information related to Steps community outcomes related to the focus areas of obesity, diabetes, asthma, physical inactivity, poor nutrition, and tobacco use and exposure. The 2006 results on tobacco use showed that the proportion of adults reporting having smoked over 100 cigarettes in their lifetime and being current smokers ranged from 12.5% to 48.0%. By 2007, the estimates ranged from 11.2% to 33.7%, and two communities had attained the Healthy People 2010 benchmark for lowering the prevalence of adult smoking. Among smokers, between 48.4% and 67.9% had stopped smoking for at least a day during the past year in 2006; this range was 50.8% to 69.6% in 2007. Click here to read more about the survey and to access information related to the other focus areas.

Smoking restrictions in large-hub airports, United States, 2002 and 2010
According to a new federal report, the percentage of large-hub airports that have indoor smoke-free policies increased from 2002 to 2010. Following a 2002 report which found that 42% of large-hub U.S. airports had policies requiring all indoor areas to be smoke-free, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) analyzed the smoking policies of large-hub airports in 2010. In 2010, 22 (76%) of the 29 large-hub airports surveyed were smoke-free indoors. Although seven airports had indoor smoking areas, the majority of airports reported having outdoor designated smoking areas (79%) and/or having smoke-free areas around entryways (69%). Smoking has been prohibited on all U.S. flights since 2000, but continued efforts are necessary to protect airport staff and travelers from secondhand smoke exposure through state, local, and airport authority regulations. Click here to read more, or click here to read the full article in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).

A Broken Promise to Our Children report: Anti-smoking programs are slashed
A new report released by a group of national public health organizations shows that states have cut their funding for smoking prevention to the lowest levels since 1999. While states are expected to collect $25.3 billion from tobacco settlement funds and tobacco taxes this fiscal year, only $517.9 million (about 2%) of it will be spent on cessation and youth prevention activities. Overall, states have cut funding to tobacco control by 9% in the past year and by 28% in the past three years. Only Alaska and North Dakota are meeting Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for recommended funding levels for tobacco prevention programs, and most states provide less than a quarter of the recommended funding. Cuts to funding create the risk of setbacks in past progress, as tobacco control programs will have less capacity to prevent smoking initiation and promote cessation. The report urges states to better fund tobacco prevention and cessation programs and the federal government to fund and implement its newly released national tobacco prevention strategy. Click here to read more, download the full report, or read the press release from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. The report is titled "A Broken Promise to Our Children: The 1998 State Tobacco Settlement 12 Years Later."

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