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Teens hold rallies to call for an end to tobacco use

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Iowa teens plan rallies at the state capitol and in their own communities today on what’s known as Kick Butts Day.

They’re calling for local leaders and lawmakers to help create the first tobacco-free generation. Gustavo Torrez, director of youth advocacy at the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, says the national youth smoking rate is at an all-time low of eight-percent.

“In Iowa, we’ve seen some really great success to reduce youth smoking rates to just about 7%, which is below the national average,” Torrez says. “While we’ve been making great progress in Iowa, still, unfortunately, we see high school students who use e-cigarettes at a little above 9%.” The national average for youth e-cigarette use is 11%. Since 2000, smoking rates among high school students nationwide have fallen 71%, from a high of 28% in 2000 to just 8% last year.

Electronic cigarettes are a big worry, Torrez says, as they’re so popular among teens. “More kids now use e-cigarettes than regular cigarettes and it’s no accident,” Torrez says. “These products are heavily marketed and sold in sweet flavors like gummy bear and cotton candy. It is really concerning. We know young people should not be using these products. They’re highly addictive and they harm the development of the adolescent brain.”

The latest e-cigarette to catch on with teens is Juul, which looks like a computer flash drive and is sold in flavors like mango and fruit medley. Creating a tobacco-free generation is a realistic goal, he says, and there’s a clear path on how to get there.

“We have proven solutions like raising tobacco taxes, passing strong smoke-free air laws, running tough ad campaigns and raising the tobacco age to 21,” Torrez says. “Elected officials across the country really should look at these and side with kids over big tobacco.” Events are planned nationwide today and in several Iowa communities, including Albia, Coon Rapids, Epworth, Des Moines and Waterloo.

 

 

Group says state not spending enough money on anti-smoking programs

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A new report shows Iowa only spends a small fraction of the money it gets from cigarette taxes and the settlement with tobacco companies on anti-smoking programs.

John Schacter, director of state communications for the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, says Iowa initially used most of its yearly allotment from the landmark lawsuit to help smokers quit and to keep youth from starting, but no more.

“The state’s bringing in a little over $280-million but is spending only $4.1-million of that, that’s only one-and-a-half percent, on tobacco prevention and cessation programs,” Schacter says. “That’s only a little more than 13% of what the CDC recommends the state spend, so it’s not a very strong showing.”

Twenty years ago, tobacco companies agreed to pay states annually to cover some of the medical costs states bear for tobacco-related illnesses among Medicaid patients. Schacter says Iowa is under no legal obligation to spend those millions of dollars on anti-smoking efforts.

“When the settlement was reached in 1998, I think it was more assumed that, of course, states will spend some of this money on tobacco prevention,” Schacter says. “That’s what the money is for. It came from an industry that spent decades lying and deceiving people and getting them addicted, costing lives and billions of dollars. Unfortunately, as time has gone on, more and more states are just putting the money into the general revenue fund and spending it on other things.”

Smoking prevention and cessation programs are proven to work nationwide and in other states, Schacter says, and Iowa is shortchanging itself by not investing more heavily in them. “States should just provide enough to fulfill the recommendations of the CDC and if states do that, we’ll be in great shape,” Schacter says. “Unfortunately, nationally, states are providing less than 3% of what the CDC recommends. Meanwhile, we’re up against big tobacco and they’re spending more than $1 million every hour marketing their products.”

A survey finds about 19% of Iowans are smokers and the state spends more than one-billion dollars every year on health care costs that are directly linked to smoking.

 

Coalition proposes $1.50 hike in Iowa’s tobacco tax

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A coalition of 19 groups is calling on Iowa’s governor and legislators to more than double the state tax on tobacco products. Stacy Frelund, the state government relations director for the American Heart Association, said Iowa’s tobacco tax ranks 29th among the states and hasn’t been raised in a decade.

“Iowa’s tobacco prevention and control program has actually seen significant cuts the last couple of years,” Frelund said this afternoon. “Last year, we had over $1 million that was cut out of that program. and it’s one of the most significant cuts we’ve had in recent years and it’s really changed how a lot of the services are provided in our state.”

Nearly 19 percent of Iowans were smokers in 2014, the last time the smoking rate was measured.

“We’re not seeing very good quit rates in our state,” Frelund said. “It’s been very stalled out when it comes to smoking for both adults and for youth.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control, raising the price of tobacco products is one of the main strategies for reducing smoking rates. Frelund acknowledged raising any tax is “daunting” for politicians, but she argued raising the state tobacco tax by $1.50 would have side benefits.

“Iowa spends about $1.2 billion in annual health care costs directly caused from smoking,” Frelund said. “…That is something to consider as you’re thinking about how this could impact our state.”

Frelund made her comments during a public budget hearing in Governor Kim Reynolds’ office. After the hearing, Reynolds told reporters she hadn’t reviewed the details of the proposal, but she and her staff would examine it.

Groups like the American Cancer Society that have traditionally pushed to reduce tobacco use are part of this coalition supporting the tobacco tax hike, but the coalition also includes eight groups that represent medical professionals. The Iowa School Counselors Association is part of the group as well. Frelund told the governor states with “well-funded” prevention programs are getting results.

“Florida recently reported that its high school smoking rate fell to just 6.9 percent in 2015 and in 2016. That’s way below the national average, so we have states that are making some huge strides when it comes to tobacco control and we’d like to see Iowa get in that line,” Frelund said. “We have seen that kind of result when we did the tobacco tax the last time. We actually had a smoking rate that was down and comparable to Utah, which is lowest in the nation.”

According to Frelund, a $1.50 cent increase in the state tax on a pack of cigarettes, a can of chewing tobacco or a package of cigars would raise more than $100 million in new revenue for the state. She told the governor that money could be used on anti-tobacco programs as well as other health-related programs like obesity prevention and the mental health system.

CDC pegs national smoking rate at 21 percent; Iowa’s is lower

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A new report from the Centers for Disease Control shows one in five American adults were smoking or using other tobacco products regularly in 2015.

“In Iowa, our news is even better,” said Garin Buttermore, a community health consultant for the Iowa Department of Public Health.

Iowa’s smoking rate has been declining and was 18.5 percent when it was last measured in 2014.

“There’s still a lot of work to be done,” Buttermore says. “You can see that as you drive down the street, as you might visit some friends’ homes, as you walk outside of bars and restaurants.”

But Buttermore credits the 2008 state law that banned smoking in most workplaces and public places for greatly reducing “second-hand smoke” exposure.

“That is huge and it is one of the reasons the smoking rate in Iowa is lower than the national average,” Buttermore says.

The Centers for Disease Control report indicates there are four main strategies for reducing smoking rates and a Clean Indoor Air Act like Iowa’s is one of them. Raising the price of tobacco products is another deterrent. Iowa policymakers last raised the state tobacco tax in 2007 and Iowa’s cigarette tax currently is in the middle of the pack when compared to the other 49 states. Buttermore says the state-run “quit line” is helping to push Iowa’s smoking rate lower.

“A lot of work to be done, but the results are in where we can definitely see that Iowa rates are definitely dropping below the national average,” Buttermore says, “and that has to do with a lot of the good work that we’ve been doing for almost 20 years now.”

Today’s national report shows a quarter of American men smoke, compared to fewer than 15-and-a-half percent of women. The Centers for Disease Control estimates 480,000 Americans die each year from smoking-related illnesses.

Statewide survey finds decrease in alcohol use by kids

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The results of the latest Iowa Youth Survey of kids in 6th, 8th and 11th grade shows a drop in alcohol use, but an uptick in kids who have had thoughts of suicide.

The Iowa Department of Public Healths survey coordinator Pat McGovern says reported alcohol use was down among both middle school and 11th graders. “That downward trend is continuing and it’s really true for most if not all substances. So not just alcohol, looking at marijuana use, cigarette use, other elicit drugs,” McGovern says.

The survey is done every two years and looking back to the last couple of surveys, alcohol use among Iowa 11th graders fell from 26.4 percent in 2012 to 21.3 percent in 2016. Binge drinking fell more than 11 percentage points from 24 percent in 2012 to 12.9 percent in 2016. Eighth graders report alcohol use fell from 7.2 percent in 2012 to 5.4 percent in 2016.

Binge drinking among eight graders went from 7.6 percent in 2012 to 2.3 percent in 2016. McGovern says drinking among sixth graders is usually low and stayed about the same in this survey.

E-cigarettes are also part of the survey. He says they just added questions in 2014 and 2016 regarding e-cigarette use and those numbers didn’t change much, but he says the use was a little higher than other tobacco products.

McGovern says they ask some questions to try and get an idea about what is driving the young people’s use of alcohol, tobacco and drugs. He says the responses to those questions caught his attention.

“One thing that I noticed and am looking at our in results of 2016, is that while reported uses are going down, some of those attitudinal questions especially — ‘How wrong do you think it is for someone of your age to do these things’ — is moving in the wrong direction,” McGovern says.

He cites the question about whether it is risky to drink alcohol every day as an example of something that raised concern. McGovern says most students still say it is wrong, but the number who think it is wrong has declined from the last survey.

“So that’s something that we will be keeping a closer eye on and doing some additional research digging into our data and actually looking at some of the nuances and what may be driving that and if there are some other things that we can do to help change the trajectory for the attitudes,” McGovern says.

One other area where McGovern wants to do more evaluation of the numbers is the amount of students who reported having seriously thought about suicide. The percentage of 11th graders who said they had seriously thought about killing themselves in the last 12 months increased by 1.7 percent from 2012 to 2016 and among all grades surveyed, 13.3 percent said they had seriously considered suicide in the past year.

“One of the things that I hope we’re able to do as time permits is to dive into that area as well and see if there is any correlation or relationship to any of the other questions,” McGovern says. “For example, looking at those students who reported using alcohol in the last 30 days. Are their responses to the suicide related questions any different than those students who didn’t?” McGovern says the job now is for the department to look through and find the areas where they need to focus more attention.

He says that is a big job as the survey has more than 200 questions covering a variety of topics. They will be releasing school-by-school and county-by-county data in the coming weeks.

For more information about the survey, visit: www.iowayouthsurvey.iowa.gov

Taxing and regulating on-line E-cigarette sales

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A proposal to try to regulate and tax electronic cigarettes and other so-called “vaping” products sold online to Iowans has emerged at the statehouse. Senator Charles Schneider, a Republican from West Des Moines, said those sales are happening now.

“We want to make sure that sellers of vaping products are verifying that the purchasers of those products are at least 18,” Schneider said, “and they ought to be paying sales tax to the state.”

The proposal is included in a massive bill that deals with more than 50 other subjects. Senator Joe Bolkcom, a Democrat from Iowa City, suggested this is a “secret plan,” inserted in the bill at the last minute to try to avoid scrutiny.

“(We’re) looking at pretty big policy idea about a really addictive substance that we think now it’s great to sell online in Iowa,” Bolkcom said, “so the process has been a joke.”

The Department of Revenue is still analyzing data to determine how much new sales tax revenue the proposal might generate.

Alliance seeks $2.3 million more for Iowa’s anti-smoking programs

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The Iowa Tobacco Prevention Alliance is asking the governor and legislators to significantly boost state spending on anti-smoking programs.

“We realize that this is a tight budget year and we know that it’s going to be really hard and money is scarce, but increased tobacco control program funding is an investment in Iowa’s future that will yield both health care and budgetary returns in subsequent years,” says Stacy Frelund, government relations director for the Iowa office of the American Heart Association, a group that’s part of the Tobacco Prevention Alliance.

According to Frelund, more than 5100 Iowa adults have died this year due to tobacco use.

“Annually tobacco-related disease costs Iowans nearly $1.3 billion, or which approximately $365 million is billed to Medicaid,” Frelund says.

Medicaid is the government program that provides health care to about 560,000 poor and disabled Iowans. The current state budget for programs aimed at getting smokers to quit and keeping teens from starting the habit is $5.2 million. Frelund says the program is “woefully underfunded.” The Tobacco Prevention Alliance is suggesting next year’s state budget should be $7.5 million.

“Prioritizing this program and these additional dollars is critical,” Frelund says. “…We could see significant decrease in smoking rates with our kids. We could see fewer kids growing up and dying prematurely from smoking.”

According to an October report from the Iowa Department of Public Health, about one out of every six deaths in the state can be linked to tobacco use. In 2014, more than 421,000 Iowans were smoking regularly.

Great American Smokeout offers encouragement to quit

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cigaretteIowans who want to kick the cigarette habit can get plenty of encouragement today .

The annual Great American Smokeout is getting underway, according to Caroline Clark, with the Iowa chapter of the American Cancer Society.

“We’re encouraging everyone to put up your cigarettes, your chewing tobacco and quit smoking for a day forever,” Clark says. “We have some great tools to help you do that.”

The rationale is, if you can quit for one day, you can quit for good. For help, call the agency’s toll-free number, 800-227-2345, or visit the website: cancer.org/smokeout.

Clark says, “We have some great materials, lots of brochures, different ways to keep their mind off smoking, different tips and tricks to help them stay motivated and a great tool kit and a plan to help them quit smoking and stay smokefree.”

A survey released earlier this year found around 18 percent of Iowans over age 18 smoke. That’s down from just over 20 percent in 2011.

(Thanks to Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City)

New federal regulations have some vape shop owners worried

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E-cigaretteThe FDA now classifies e-cigarettes as tobacco products and the liquid that goes into the devices will be regulated. Some fear it’ll mean the end of the small, privately-owned vape shops that have cropped up around Iowa.

Sam Salaymeh runs vape shops in Sioux City and Omaha and says he and other store owners are still attempting to grasp the new regulations. “We’re trying to fight but we’re trying to orient ourselves and understand all of these regulations and how to navigate,” Salaymeh says. “I have at least one to challenge this. There are a lot of advocacy groups trying to educate, raise awareness and rally support.”

While the feds claim there are no complete studies on the dangers of vaping, Salaymeh says there’s a large report out from the Royal College of Physicians in London which touts the many benefits. “They talk about its efficacy for people to switch from smoking to vaping,” he says. “They talk about the issue that smoking is the biggest avoidable cause of death. They talk about how electronic nicotine delivery systems are a better way to get the nicotine that people are addicted to without getting all of the other stuff that comes with tobacco.”

Salaymeh says vaping has helped thousands of people kick the cigarette habit. He says the difference between vaping and smoking is like comparing bicycles to the space shuttle. “These devices are at least 95% safer than traditional cigarettes,” Salaymeh says. “This is where this gets quite interesting. From a public health perspective, if anything on Earth has ever come up as something that reduces harm by 95%, all politicians will be applauding it and hailing it as the best thing since sliced bread.”

The new rules take effect in 90 days. They prohibit the sale of e-cigarettes in vending machines and prevent owners from offering free samples to customers. The sale of e-cigs will also be banned to anyone under 18, while the makers of the devices will be required to register with the FDA, provide a list of ingredients and apply for permission to sell them.

Salaymeh says the new rules will eliminate all small vape shops and hand the industry over to big tobacco companies.

Teens push no smoking message on annual ‘Kick Butts Day’

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Kick-Butts-DayThis is the 21st annual Kick Butts Day in Iowa as teenagers across the state unite to spread an anti-smoking message in their schools and communities.

Gustavo Torrez, director of youth advocacy for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, says events will range from small classroom activities about harmful ingredients in cigarettes to large rallies.

Torrez says, “Young people will advocate for issues that they’re seeing within their local community to help either reduce youth smoking rates or educate their community on the importance of smoke-free air laws.” Tobacco companies are spending almost 10-billion dollars a year to market their products nationwide, which Torrez says translates to almost 100-million dollars a year spent on tobacco marketing just in Iowa. Many of those ads, he says, center on Iowa teens.

“The magazine advertisements in Glamour, Rolling Stone and Sports Illustrated really heavily market towards young people and have high youth readership,” Torrez says. “We also see the ads in convenience stores. You can’t walk into a convenience store today without seeing tobacco industry ads, marketing their product.”

The tobacco industry uses “outrageous” marketing tactics to target youth, Torrez says, including the introduction of sweet-flavored products like e-cigarettes and small cigars that come in flavors like gummy bear, cotton candy and watermelon.

“The national youth smoking rate is 15.7% and unfortunately, the high school smoking rate in Iowa is 18.1%,” Torrez says. “It really shows we have a lot of work that still needs to be done.” Some of the Iowa communities involved in today’s Kick Butts efforts include: Dubuque, Edgewood, Grundy Center, Keosauqua and Thornburg.

Torrez says tobacco use is the nation’s number-one preventable cause of death, killing more than 480,000 people and costing the nation 170 billion dollars in health care bills every year.