National Report: Wisconsin Ranks 33rd in Protecting Kids from Tobacco

States Challenged to Join Florida in Reducing Youth Smoking to Record Low

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Dec 11, 2014, 10:00 ET

WASHINGTON, Dec. 11, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Wisconsin ranks 33rd in the country in funding programs that prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit, according to a national report released today by a coalition of public health organizations.

The report challenges states to do more by shining the spotlight on Florida, which has cut its high school smoking rate to a record low 7.5 percent. The report details the lives and health care dollars each state could save if it brought its teen smoking rate down to Florida's.

If Wisconsin reduced its high school smoking rate from the current 10.7 percent to 7.5 percent, it would prevent 64,290 kids from becoming adult smokers, saving 22,720 lives and $1.1 billion in future health care costs. Today in Wisconsin, tobacco annually claims 7,900 lives and costs the state $2.7 billion in health care bills.

Other key findings for Wisconsin include:

Wisconsin is spending $5.3 million this year on tobacco prevention and cessation programs, which is 9.2 percent of the $57.5 million recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Wisconsin will collect $755.8 million in revenue this year from the 1998 tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes but will spend only 0.7 percent of the money on tobacco prevention programs.
Tobacco companies spend $145.6 million per year to market their products in Wisconsin – 27 times what the state spends on tobacco prevention.

Today's report, titled "Broken Promises to Our Children: A State-by-State Look at the 1998 State Tobacco Settlement 16 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.

Wisconsin has significantly reduced tobacco use with a cigarette tax of $2.52 per pack, a strong smoke-free workplace law and a once well-funded tobacco prevention and cessation program. Since 2000, Wisconsin has cut smoking among high school students by 67 percent, from 32.6 percent to 10.7 percent in 2014. However, the state has slashed funding for tobacco prevention in recent years and is now spending less than 10 percent of what the CDC recommends.

"Wisconsin has been a leader in fighting tobacco, but the state's progress could reverse unless it restores funding for programs that prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit," said Matthew L. Myers, President of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. "The dramatic smoking declines in Wisconsin show it is within our reach to create a tobacco-free generation. But Wisconsin is putting the health of its children at risk and costing taxpayers money by failing to properly fund these life-saving programs."

Nationally, the report finds that:

Most states fail to adequately fund tobacco prevention and cessation programs. The states will collect $25.6 billion this year from the tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes but will spend only 1.9 percent of it ($490.4 million) on tobacco prevention programs.
States are falling woefully short of the CDC's recommended funding levels for tobacco prevention programs. Altogether, the states budgeted just 14.8 percent of the $3.3 billion the CDC recommends. Only two states – Alaska and North Dakota – are funding tobacco prevention programs at CDC-recommended levels.

Evidence shows tobacco prevention and cessation programs work to reduce smoking, save lives and save money. One study found that during the first 10 years of its tobacco prevention program, the state of Washington saved more than $5 in tobacco-related hospitalization costs for every $1 spent on the program.

Tobacco use is the No. 1 cause of preventable death in the United States, killing more than 480,000 people and costing the nation at least $289 billion in health care bills and lost productivity each year.

The full report and state-specific information can be found at www.tobaccofreekids.org/statereport.

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SOURCE Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids