National Report: Alaska Ranks 1st in Protecting Kids from Tobacco

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Dec 06, 2012, 01:00 ET

WASHINGTON, Dec. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- For the third year in a row, Alaska ranks first in the nation in funding programs to prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit, according to a national report released today by a coalition of public health organizations.

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Alaska currently spends $10.9 million a year on tobacco prevention and cessation programs, which meets the funding level recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Other key findings for Alaska include:

Alaska this year will collect $103 million in revenue from the 1998 tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes and will spend 10.5 percent of it on tobacco prevention programs.
The tobacco companies spend $17 million a year to market their products in Alaska. This is two times what the state spends on tobacco prevention.

The annual report on states' funding of tobacco prevention programs, titled "Broken Promises to Our Children: The 1998 State Tobacco Settlement 14 Years Later," was released by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, American Heart Association, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Lung Association, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights. The report assesses whether the states have kept their promise to use a significant portion of their settlement funds, as well as tobacco taxes, to reduce tobacco use.

"Alaska is setting an example for the nation with its strong and sustained commitment to preventing kids from smoking and helping smokers quit," said Matthew L. Myers, President of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. "Tobacco prevention is a smart investment for Alaska that is saving lives and saving money by helping reduce tobacco-related health care costs."

Since 1999, Alaska has cut the state's high school smoking rate by 58 percent, from 33.9 percent to 14.1 percent who smoke. Tobacco annually claims 490 lives in Alaska and costs the state $169 million in health care bills.

Nationally, the report finds that most states are failing to adequately fund tobacco prevention and cessation programs. Key national findings include:

The states this year will collect $25.7 billion from the tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, but will spend just 1.8 percent of it – $459.5 million – on tobacco prevention programs. This means the states are spending less than two cents of every dollar in tobacco revenue to fight tobacco use.
States are falling woefully short of the CDC's recommended funding levels for tobacco prevention programs. Altogether, the states have budgeted just 12.4 percent of the $3.7 billion the CDC recommends.
Only two states – Alaska and North Dakota – currently fund tobacco prevention programs at the CDC-recommended level.

As the nation implements health care reform, the report warns that states are missing a golden opportunity to reduce tobacco-related health care costs, which total $96 billion a year in the U.S. One study found that during the first 10 years of its tobacco prevention program, Washington state saved more than $5 in tobacco-related hospitalization costs for every $1 spent on the program.

Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death in the U.S., killing more than 400,000 people each year. Nationally, 19 percent of adults and 18.1 percent of high school students smoke.

More information, including the full report and state-specific information, can be obtained at www.tobaccofreekids.org/reports/settlements.

SOURCE Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids