Cutting smoking in Iowa hampered by lack of funds

A Surgeon General’s report sets a new goal of cutting the U-S smoking rate in half by the year 2010, but that may be a struggle in the Hawkeye State. Iowa is lacking in one key area when it comes to trying to help smokers quit, according to Bob Brammer, spokesman for the Iowa Attorney General. Brammer says five-thousand Iowans die every year from tobacco-related diseases while one-thousand Iowa kids each month take up smoking. While Iowa is already spending more than nine-million dollars a year on a plan to reduce youth smoking, Brammer says adult smokers in Iowa have few places they can turn for help in snuffing out the butts.Brammer envisions state leaders using their positions as “bully pulpits” to convince more smokers to give it up. The American Lung Association and American Cancer Society chapters across Iowa do offer help.