Answers About Tobacco

TFN E-News Update / May 2016

May is Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month

 About 21 percent of people with asthma smoke, even though cigarette smoke is known to trigger asthma attacks. Breathing someone else’s smoke also can trigger asthma attacks in nonsmokers.

 Jamason and his mother Sherri talk about the day Jamason had to go to the hospital after having a severe asthma attack at work, triggered by exposure to secondhand smoke. In this video from CDC’s Tips From Former Smokers campaign, Jamason admits that after such a severe attack, he was afraid to leave the hospital because he knew that outside, in the real world, people smoke.

 For more information about asthma and other respiratory diseases, download the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Smoking and Respiratory Diseases fact sheet.

Historic Ruling Allows FDA to Protect Future Generations from the Dangers of Tobacco

 On May 5, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) finalized a rule extending its authority to all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, cigars, hookah tobacco and pipe tobacco, among others. While there has been a significant decline in the use of traditional cigarettes among youth over the past decade, the use of other tobacco products continues to climb. A recent survey supported by the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows current e-cigarette use among high school students has skyrocketed from 1.5 percent in 2011 to 16 percent in 2015.  The new FDA ruling will provide for:

  • No tobacco products can be sold to anyone under the age of 18 years, either in person or online;
  • Age verification by photo identification;
  • Not allowing the distribution of free samples;
  • Requiring premarket review and authorization of new tobacco products;
  • Placing health warnings on product packages and advertisements;
  • and more.

For general information regarding the FDA ruling, read the May 5 press release from the FDA.

 Since FDA regulation will complement – not replace – local action, read more about what state and local governments can do in this publication from the Tobacco Control Legal Consortium.

 

No Limits Accepting Youth Board Applications

No Limits is Nebraska’s first youth-led movement that exposes and opposes the tobacco industry’s manipulative marketing tactics. The Youth Board is the guiding body for the entire movement.

Board members plan, implement, and participate in statewide events, activities, and marketing strategies for No Limits. They will also engage in local activism, serve as youth leaders, educate teens on tobacco issues, and empower Nebraska youth to take action.

 Youth Board members meet new friends, travel, build their resume, gain leadership skills, develop cool projects, fight Big Tobacco, and have a lot of fun. Members will serve from June 2016 to June 2017. Applicants must be 14-18 years old, entering grades 9-12 in the fall of 2016.

 Applications are due May 18. Complete one today!

 

New Website can Help Smokeless Tobacco Users

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) recently launched its new website on dip as part of the current smokefree.gov site.

The site, targeting youth and young adults, includes information about the harmful chemicals in chewing tobacco, managing cravings and how to deal with triggers, stress and irritability or depression after quitting.

 The NCI site is also linked to “The Real Cost” campaign from the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products, also focused on educating primarily rural, white male teenagers about the negative health consequences of smokeless tobacco use.

World No Tobacco Day May 31: Get Ready for Plain Packaging

The European Union Court of Justice recently upheld new tobacco regulations, rejecting lawsuits filed by Philip Morris International and British American Tobacco. The regulations require graphic health warnings covering 65 percent of the front and back of tobacco packs; ban flavored tobacco products and establish regulations for E-cigarettes.

 The ruling also provides critical support for countries to go beyond the specific EU regulations and require that cigarettes be sold in plain packaging. The United Kingdom, France and Ireland have passed laws requiring plain packaging and will soon join Australia in implementing this strategy to accelerate progress in reducing tobacco use.

The full press release can be found at Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

The theme of World No Tobacco Day on May 31: Get Ready for Plain Packaging.

May is Mental Health Month

 More than one in three adults (36 percent) in the U.S. with a mental illness smoke cigarettes compared with one in five (21 percent) without mental illness. About one in five adults in the U.S. suffer from some type of mental illness.

Due to high rates of tobacco use among this population, many will get sick and die early from smoking.

 A Vital Signs report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveals:

·  Nicotine has mood-altering effects that put people with mental illness at higher risk for cigarette use and nicotine addiction.

·  People with mental illness are more likely to have stressful living conditions, be low income, and lack access to health insurance, health care, and help with quitting. All of these factors make it more challenging to quit.

·  Evidence shows a history of direct tobacco marketing to people with mental illness and other vulnerable groups of people

The 2016 Nebraska Behavioral Health Conference

will be held May 31 – June 2 in Lincoln.  Tobacco Free Nebraska will be sharing information about quitting with both providers and consumers.

It’s Never Too Late to Quit Smoking

The National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) guide to quitting smoking for people 50 years of age and over contains valuable information and inspirational stories for individuals who might think it is too late in life to quit.  The NCI guide, Clear Horizons, emphasizes the benefits of quitting at any age and identifies the immediate and long term positive health changes that can occur.

Success stories from long-time smokers encourage their peers not to give up trying, even if they have tried in the past and were unable to quit.

Celebrate Older Americans Month by sharing this resource with smokers who may think it’s too late to quit.

The Nebraska Tobacco Quitline can assist any Nebraska resident age 16 and older. It is free, available 24/7 and provides trained Quit Coaches to help people quit any form of tobacco (including e-cigarettes).  Call the Quitline at 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669).

Tobacco Marketing Expenditures Reach $1 million per Hour

 The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has released its 2013 Reports on Cigarette and Smokeless Tobacco Sales and Marketing Expenditures.

 The number of cigarettes sold by the largest cigarette companies in the United States to wholesalers and retailers in the U.S. declined from 267.7 billion in 2012 to 256.7 billion in 2013 while smokeless tobacco sales rose from 125.5 million pounds in 2012 to 128.0 million pounds in 2013. The revenue from those sales increased from $3.08 billion in 2012 to $3.26 billion in 2013.

 The $9.5 billion the industry spent to market cigarettes and smokeless tobacco amounts to more than $25 million each day or $1 million every hour.

Adapting TIPS Campaign to Local Settings

May 31 | 2:30-3:30 p.m. CT

 A free webinar on adapting the CDC’s Tips From Former Smokers Campaign to local settings. Registration required.

Always a Priority: Helping Smokers with Mental Health Conditions Quit

May 31 | 12-1:30 p.m. CT

  A free webinar to increase awareness and knowledge about mental illness and tobacco use.Registration required.

Social Marketing Conference and Training Academy

June 15-16 | Clearwater, FL

Social marketing conference hosted by the University of South Florida for all levels of social marketing users. More information here.

Cultivating a Culture of Health Equity

July 19-21 | Phoenix, AZ

 Annual Conference of the National Association of City and County Health Officials; the largest gathering of local health department leaders and other public health professionals in the U.S. Register by June 9 for early-bird rates.

Annual PHAN Conference

September 29-30 | Lincoln, NE

 Save the dates for the Public Health Association of Nebraska’s annual conference to be held at the Embassy Suites. More information will come as it is available.

2017 National Conference on Tobacco or Health

March 22-24, 2017 | Austin, TX

 Registration and call for abstracts will launch in June 2016. Updates can be found online.

Quick Links

Nebraska Tobacco Quitline

Tobacco Hurts Business

TobaccoCostsYou.com

NE Dept. of Health & Human Services (DHHS)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *