Wisconsin fares poorly in Lung Association smoking...

y Mark Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

Posted: Jan. 13, 2009

Wisconsin received generally low grades in a national report card on tobacco control and smoke-free air, though the state was praised for its efforts to help smokers quit.

The American Lung Association today released its “State of Tobacco Control 2008,” giving Wisconsin an F for providing smoke-free air and an F for providing coverage of medications, counseling and other smoke-ending costs. The state scored a C for its cigarette tax rate and a B for its spending on smoke cessation and prevention.

The association’s report offered a grim picture of national smoking policies, saying that no states rated solid A’s despite numerous studies showing that by enacting policies that save lives – comprehensive smoke-free laws, high tobacco taxes, and prevention and quitting programs – states benefit financially.

“The tobacco companies continue to be a significant barrier to the enactment of strong and effective tobacco control policies at the state and federal level,” the report says.

David Sutton, a spokesman for Philip Morris USA, said, “We understand and agree that people should be able to avoid being around second-hand smoke, particularly in places they must go, public buildings, public transportation and the workplace.” However, Sutton said the company feels small businesses, including taverns and restaurants, should be free to decide their own smoking policies; the public is then free to choose which businesses to patronize.

Sutton added that Philip Morris USA regards increases in cigarette excise taxes as “an unfair burden on adult tobacco consumers.”

However, public health groups have viewed these taxes as a way to pay for programs that help smokers quit.

Michael Fiore, a doctor and director of the University of Wisconsin’s Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention, said the good news in the report is that the Badger State is among the nation’s leaders in helping people to quit smoking. The state’s Quit Line, which coaches people who want to stop smoking, has received 120,000 calls since it began in 2001, drawing 40,000 calls last year alone. About the same time the state increased its excise tax on tobacco, it also increased funding for its cessation and prevention programs. Following that tax increase, the number of calls to the Quit Line more than tripled in one year.

According to Fiore, one estimate predicts that increasing the excise tax by a dollar would result in 40,000 fewer young smokers, would prompt 30,000 smokers to quit and would prevent the premature deaths of 20,000 residents.

Fiore said Wisconsin smokers pay about $500 million a year in cigarette excise taxes, of which $15 million goes into tobacco control programs – far below the minimum amount of cessation and prevention spending recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The bad news, he said, remains Wisconsin’s failure to pass a comprehensive state policy that would prohibit smoking indoors in public places, including all workplaces, taverns and restaurants.

“The fact is that Wisconsin is still the ashtray of the Midwest,” Fiore said.

In the absence of a statewide policy, some cities and towns have passed stronger ordinances. The American Lung Association in Wisconsin gave A’s to Madison, Appleton, Marshfield, Shorewood, Beloit and Eau Claire for their ordinances.

Source: http://www.jsonline.com/features/health/37482394.html

One Response to “Wisconsin fares poorly in Lung Association smoking report card”

1. VocalEK Says:
   August 6th, 2009 at 4:08 pm

   I give the American Lung Association an F for providing smoke-free air. The ALA is pressuring the FDA to pull electronic cigarettes, which produce no smoke, off the market.

   If they really cared about clean air and healthier lungs, they would be the most vocal advocates for–not opponents of–the invention.

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