In response to proposed plans that inadequately increase Missouri’s lowest-in-the-nation tobacco tax, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Heart Association, and several other local health groups called on the Missouri legislature to resist the tobacco industry proposals. “Tobacco products in Missouri are too cheap and the health costs are too high. Our state is long overdue for a tobacco tax increase…A meaningful tobacco tax increase – of $1.00 per pack or more – has proven time and again to be an effective way to reduce tobacco use, cut health care costs and generate state revenue.”
Judge Criticizes Cigarette Makers, Adopts New Warning Statements
The Wall Street Journal reports that the federal judge presiding over government litigation against tobacco companies in a Monday opinion blasted cigarette makers for continuing to fight her court order requiring them to warn the public about the dangers of smoking. U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler, based in Washington, adopted revised language Monday for the product warnings and rejected as “ridiculous” the latest legal arguments being made by the tobacco companies. She said the defendants were trying to further delay the resolution of a case that began in 1999.
‘It’s the Wild West out there.’ E-cigarette advertising reaches 70 percent of middle and high schoolers, CDC says.
E-cigarette marketing has become so ubiquitous, reports the Washington Post, that it now reaches more than two-thirds of U.S. middle and high school students, according to a new US Centers for Disease Control report — a development that some public health officials argue is prompting more teens to use the devices and threatening decades of progress in combating youth tobacco use.
More than 18 million (7 in 10) US middle and high school youth were exposed to e-cigarette ads in 2014.
More than 1 in 2 middle and high school youth were exposed to e-cigarette ads in retail stores.
Nearly 2 in 5 middle and high school youth saw e-cigarette ads online.
Don’t Let Progress on Tobacco Evaporate
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported this month that the adult smoking rate in the United States has fallen to a new low, a testament to the decades of education about the dangers of tobacco and measures to discourage its use. But, warns an editorial in the New York Times, now Republicans in the House are seeking to slash the very government programs that have helped to achieve such remarkable success.
Tobacco, alcohol and processed food industries – Why are they viewed so differently?
Katherine Smith November 18, 2015
Cross-posted from Policy and Politics Blog
One of the few indisputable truths in life is that we will all, eventually, die but what we will die of, and at what age, is changing across the world, with non-communicable diseases (NCDs) increasingly accounting for excessive morbidity and mortality burdens. The growing prevalence of NCDs is triggering substantial policy concern, evident, for example, in the 2011 UN high level meeting on NCDs. Yet, it is clear there are very different ways of thinking about this ‘epidemiological transition’: it has been framed, on the one hand, as a consequence of the choices that individuals make and, on the other, as a consequence of the strategies that corporations pursue.
New poll shows most Americans think e-cigarettes are harmful
A new national poll shows that most Americans believe electronic cigarettes are harmful to people’s health. The findings could bolster the Food and Drug Administration as it moves to regulate e-cigarettes for the first time.
TPP Caves to the Tobacco Industry, Threatens Public Health
Ellen R. Shaffer, Joseph E. Brenner Nov. 6, 2015 Cross-posted from CPATH
The vacuous “tobacco control” provision in the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) virtually capitulates to the demands of multinational tobacco corporations, jeopardizing nations’ health and economic welfare. Public health and medical advocates in the U.S. and abroad consistently urged negotiators to exclude tobacco control protections from trade challenges under the TPP. But tobacco industry opposition won the day, bolstered by corporate allies concerned that addressing the uniquely lethal effects of tobacco in trade agreements could set a precedent for reining in their own practices.
Continue reading TPP Caves to the Tobacco Industry, Threatens Public Health
Here’s how Congress can prevent 200,000 deaths
By Nicholas Freudenberg – Cross-posted from The Hill
Want to prevent more than 200,000 premature deaths among Americans born between 2000 and 2019? The answer seems like a no-brainer. Last week, Senate Democrats made a proposal that would do just that – raising the minimum age for purchasing tobacco to age 21.
The Institute of Medicine, an independent research group established to advise Congress on science-based policy, estimated that the lives of 223,000 young people born after 2000 would be extended by raising the purchase age to 21. About 700 kids under the age of 18 become regular smokers each day, and one in three will eventually die as result. Raising the age would restrict access to tobacco to young people directly and indirectly by making it more difficult for younger smokers to find older peers to buy cigarettes for them. Raising the smoking age would save taxpayer money, too. Although the law would decrease tobacco sales, savings in health care would more than cover the cost. An analysis by the California legislature calculated that the loss of $68 million a year in sales tax revenue would be offset by health care saving as high as $2 billion a year. That means a return of almost $30 for every $1 of forgone revenue.
A public opinion poll by the CDC last year showed that 75 percent of citizens favor the proposal to raise the act. At least 90 localities in eight states, including New York City, and the state of Hawaii have already raised the tobacco sales age to 21. Statewide legislation to do so is being considered in several states, including California and Pennsylvania.
Despite life and cost savings, there are opponents of the change. Some claim it interferes with individual freedom. “If you’re old enough to fight and die for your country at age 18, you ought to be able to make the choice of whether you want to purchase a legal product or not,” said one lobbyist who testified against the California bill. The Hawaii Chamber of Commerce opposed the measure there, fearing it would harm business. And the president of the California Retailers Association warned that raising the smoking age would simply drive young people to the black market. For the tobacco industry, raising the purchase age would deprive Big Tobacco of its most lucrative source of new nicotine addicts, a prerequisite for its long term survival in the U.S. market.
This debate raises fundamental questions. Does government have the obligation and authority to set limits on substances like nicotine, sugary beverages and alcohol – the leading causes of the global epidemics of chronic diseases? Or should the market leave it to consumers and parents to protect themselves and their children against the marketing of the lethal but legal products of Big Tobacco, Big Soda and Big Alcohol? In the case of the proposed rule on tobacco purchase age, more than 200,000 lives depend on how Congress answers these questions.
Health and Trade: what hope for SDG3?
Emma Woodford, Founder and Director, Health and Trade Network (HaT)
Cross posted from Health and Trade Network
“… the forces of power, particularly corporate power, are impatient with what is adequate for a coherent community. Because power gains so little from community in the short run, it does not hesitate to destroy community for the long run.” ― Wes Jackson, Becoming Native to This Place
In case you had been asleep for the last ten days, last week in New York the UN finally ratified the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aiming to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all.
FDA for First Time Orders Major Cigarette Brand Pulled Off the Market, Sending Strong Message to Manufacturers about Complying with 2009 Law
Statement of Matthew L. Myers, President, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
WASHINGTON, DC – For the first time since being granted regulatory authority over tobacco products by a 2009 law, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration today ordered a tobacco company (R.J. Reynolds) to pull a major cigarette brand – Camel Crush Bold – off the market. The agency acted under a key provision of the law that requires prior FDA review and authorization before tobacco companies market new or changed products.
Corporations and Health Watch 