May 23, 2012

You are here: Home / Archives for Tobacco

Cancer Society sponsors Great American Smoke Out

November 17, 2011 By

A new federal study finds seven out of ten current cigarette smokers say they wish they could quit — and today is their latest opportunity. Chuck Reed, spokesman for the Iowa chapter of the American Cancer Society, says the number of smokers is continuing to fall in the state and nationwide.

Just in Iowa, the adult smoking rate has fallen from well over 20% to 14% in just a few years. “Many, many Iowans have quit smoking,” Reed says, “and the state is becoming healthier.” The Cancer Society is sponsoring today’s annual Great American Smoke Out which Reed says has been changed up a little this time around.

This is the 36th annual smokeout and instead of this just being a day to quit smoking, Reed says it’s been “tweaked” a little bit so today is also a day to make one’s plan to quit smoking — setting a date and specific goals. Studies have found that smokers who try to quit “cold turkey” are only successful about five-percent of the time. Reed says your odds are much better if you seek help.

“Call the QuitLine or call the American Cancer Society and get some coaching or just some support,” he says. “If you do that, along with nicotine replacement therapy, the gums and patches, if you combine those two, your success rate for quitting smoking is about 40%.”

Some Iowa restaurants are making special offers today to encourage smokers to quit, like giving free cold turkey sandwiches in exchange for packs of cigarettes. Learn more online at “www.cancer.org” or by calling 800-ACS-2345.

By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City

Filed Under: Health & Medicine, News Tagged With: ,

Plan seeks to make Iowa healthiest state in the nation

August 10, 2011 By

Governor Branstad announces health initiative with Lt. Governor Reynolds, Congressmen Boswell and Latham.

Governor Terry Branstad announced a new initiative today  to make Iowa the healthiest state in the nation in five years.

Branstad says the effort will involve businesses, government, schools, restaurants, grocery stores, faith based organizations, non-profits, health care providers and anyone else who wants to help with “the common goal of making Iowa the healthiest state in the nation.”

He says they are also encouraging other states to set the goal and compete with our state. Iowa has some work to do as the state ranked 19th when compared to other states in the overall “Well-Being Index”

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Health & Medicine, Politics & Government Tagged With: , , , , ,

New warning labels cigarettes are more graphic

June 22, 2011 By

New cigarette warning.

Federal health officials unveiled graphic new warning labels Tuesday that will be required on all packs of cigarettes beginning in September of 2012.

 Chuck Reed of the American Cancer Society says the new labels are the first update in 25 years and he likes the fact they are increasing in size.

He says the new labels will cover 50% of the front and back of the cigarette packages, and there will have to be labels on 20% of all cigarette advertising. Reed says he also likes the fact that the smoking quitline number will also be on cigarette packs.

The new warning labels feature photos and drawings which depict the consequences of smoking and the traditional warning that “Cigarettes Cause Cancer.” Reed says every day 4,100 kids try their first cigarette, so the new graphic images will hopefully deter them from smoking. He says the research shows if you don’t smoke as a teen, then you probably won’t smoke as an adult.

Reed says the new graphic labels are just one of the changes in the federal tobacco prevention law. He says the law also bans descriptions for cigarettes like “light, mild or low tar.” Reed says it also prohibits selling what are called “kiddie packs” of cigarettes, which include fewer cigarettes and are cheaper for kids to buy.

It also bans the sale of candy and fruit-flavored cigarettes, all tobacco-brand sponsorships of sports and cultural events and virtually all free tobacco samples and giveaways of non-tobacco items, such as hats and T-shirts with the purchase of tobacco.

If you need help to stop smoking, you can call the quitline at: 1-800-Quit-Now. Or go to the American Cancer Society’s website at: www.acscan.org.

Filed Under: Health & Medicine Tagged With: ,

Des Moines hospital says smokers need not apply

June 2, 2011 By

One of Iowa’s largest hospitals plans to only hire non-smokers. Starting July 1st, prospective employees of Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines will have to submit to a urine test which will check for nicotine.

If it’s found in your system, you’ll have to quit the cigarettes and you’ll be allowed to reapply for the job — and take another urine test — after six months. An official with the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union says it’s legal, though some states have forbidden employers from such discrimination.

Hospital officials say the current 6,600 employees will not be tested, but they’ll be encouraged to quit if they smoke.

Filed Under: Health & Medicine Tagged With:

Students rally at “Kick Butts Day” anti-smoking events

March 23, 2011 By

Hundreds of middle and high school students in Iowa are taking part in “Kick Butts Day” rallies and events today  that aim to keep young people from starting to smoke and to urge current smokers to quit. Danny McGoldrick, spokesman for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, says nearly 19% of Iowa high school students smoke and almost 15,000 kids in the state try cigarettes for the first time each year.

“They can speak from their own experience about how they’re targeted by the tobacco companies,” McGoldrick says. “They’ll be participating in hundreds of events around the country to bring attention to the problem of tobacco use but also the solutions to the tobacco problem. We know what to do to reduce tobacco use, we just need to put those policies and programs in place that we know work.”

He says tobacco claims 4,400 Iowans’ lives every year and costs more than one-billion dollars in health care expenses. McGoldrick says today’s events will be very visible in cities across Iowa. “There will be red ribbons on trees outside of a school in Farmington to represent the number of people who die every day from tobacco use,” McGoldrick says. “Some kids will be involved in cleaning up cigarette butts to see if their schools are making progress in getting tobacco off school campuses.”

Among other events, students at Coon Rapids-Bayard Junior Senior High School in Coon Rapids will have a contest to determine who has the best “ugly face” reaction to learning the harmful and dangerous ingredients found in cigarettes. A pledge wall will be created at Howard Junior High School in Centerville for students to sign to pledge to not use tobacco.

Iowa has already made strides, McGoldrick says, by enacting a statewide smoking ban and by raising the tax on cigarettes. “The big issue in Iowa is maintaining funding for the state’s very successful tobacco prevention and cessation program,” McGoldrick says. “The states bring in billions of dollars every year from their tobacco settlement payments and their tobacco taxes but they’re just not dedicating those monies to the kind of prevention and cessation programs that these kids get involved in and which make a difference in reducing tobacco use in the state.”

This is the 16th annual Kick Butts Day and events are planned in all 50 states. “The tobacco prevention program has been cut in Iowa over recent years and kids are going to be speaking out, saying, ‘We want to be involved, we want to help,’ but they need the prevention and cessation programs that work in order to be a part of that.”

McGoldrick says tobacco use is the number-one cause of preventable death in the United States, killing more than 400,000 people and costing $96 billion in health care bills each year.

Learn more at: www.tobaccofreekids.org.

Filed Under: Health & Medicine, Politics & Government Tagged With:

Casino smoking ban part of discussion over Internet gambling

March 22, 2011 By

A proposal that would completely ban smoking at the 18 state-licensed casinos in Iowa has emerged during consideration of another gambling-related bill. That bill would set up a state-sanctioned online poker network, run by the casinos.

Senator Matt McCoy, a Democrat from Des Moines, says it’s time for those same casinos to lose the exemption in the statewide smoking ban which continues to allow smoking on the casino floor.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Recreation & Entertainment Tagged With: , ,

Senate committee considering ban on smokeless tobacco at schools

March 2, 2011 By

The Senate Education Committee is scheduled to consider a bill today that would forbid anyone on school property from using smokeless tobacco products. It’s already illegal to light up a cigarette or cigar on school grounds, but Senator Herman Quirmbach, a Democrat from Ames, says it’s time to make schools completely tobacco-free zones.

“We realize that any tobacco-related product has the possibility of increasing the liklihood of nicotine addiction and causing a variety of other adverse health effects,” Quirmbach says. “And we just want all of that out of the school environment.” Senator Roby Smith, a Republican from Davenport, supports the move.

“I think it gives the right message to young adults…that if you’re going to school, we don’t want you using tobacco products,” he says. Both Smith and Quirmbach say it just makes sense to forbid teachers, coaches and other adult school employees from using “chew” or some of the other smokeless tobacco product when they’re on school property.

“You know, we just want students to be free of exposure to that as much as we can — we can’t control everything,” Quirmbach says. “And certainly, adults on school campuses — we’d like them to model healthy behaviors for students.” Smith and Quirmbach were part of a three-member senate subcommittee that endorsed the proposal Tuesday.

Filed Under: Education Tagged With: ,
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »