Posts

LA Times – Capitol Times: Lawmakers show surprising courage against Big Tobacco

The Legislature showed some guts last week in standing up to the tobacco lobby and its political money.

It could have shown more, however, by mustering the courage to raise taxes on cigarettes, cigars and chewing crud.

California’s tobacco tax is among the lowest in the nation and hasn’t been hiked since 1998 — and then only by the voters, not the weak-kneed legislators.

The national average state cigarette tax is $1.61 per pack. California’s is about half that, 87 cents. We rank 35th. New York is first at $4.35.

But give our lawmakers credit: They did the next best thing, even if it was a punt to local government. They passed a bill allowing counties to seek voter approval of a local tobacco tax.

The tax revenue could be used to help smokers kick the habit and treat their tobacco-related ailments.

The main purpose, however, is to discourage people from buying smokes, a strategy that works — and worries cigarette makers. Researchers have found that for every 10% increase in the cigarette price, there’s a 4% reduction in use.

Let’s put the rap on legislative fortitude in perspective: To pass any tax increase, a two-thirds vote is needed. Passing a bill that allows someone else to raise a tax requires only a simple majority, which Democrats can handle without buying off Republicans.

The local tax bill, by Assemblyman Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica), passed the Assembly on a 46-27 vote, far short of the 54 needed for two-thirds.

“Tobacco is a poison,” Bloom told me. “We shouldn’t even be debating this anymore. We should be doing everything to keep it out of the hands of young people.”

It was a bad day for tobacco interests. The Assembly passed two other bills that could have even greater immediate impact.

One, by Sen. Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina), would raise the smoking age from 18 to 21.

Opponents argued it wouldn’t be fair that someone under 21 could die for their country but couldn’t smoke. So active military personnel were exempted.

The bill passed 49 to 25.

Hernandez says research shows that 90% of smokers begin puffing before age 21, and 80% before 18.

San Francisco last week raised its smoking age to 21. So have Hawaii and New York City.

But I’m skeptical. Come on! We can’t even enforce the age 18 limit. Kids get smokes at 14 or whenever they want.

Yes, argue the proposal’s advocates, but the 14-year-olds get their cigarettes from 18-year-olds. They wouldn’t be close enough to the 21-year-olds.

Perhaps. But what’s to stop the 18-year-olds from being supplied by those who are 21, and then passing them down to little sister?

The second big bill that passed makes total sense and is overdue. The measure, by Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), would regulate electronic cigarettes like tobacco. Their use would be prohibited everywhere cigarettes are banned: in restaurants, theaters and other public places.

These cute vapor devices are particularly appealing to minors, sold with yummy flavors such as chocolate, cotton candy and cherry — and usually laced with addictive nicotine.

The bill passed 52 to 21.

One Los Angeles study, Leno says, found that 9th-graders who use e-cigarettes are four times as likely to get hooked on tobacco.

“Clearly, Big Tobacco’s next move is to addict a new generation to nicotine,” Leno says.

Three other anti-smoking bills also passed the Assembly the same day. One would close loopholes in the state’s smoke-free workplace laws. Another would require all schools to be tobacco free. The third would impose a state licensing fee on tobacco retailers.

Passage of the six-bill package earned kudos for Speaker Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) on her last day as Assembly leader. Assemblyman Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) takes over this week.

Last year, the tobacco lobby and its legislative minions stalled the bills in the Assembly after two key measures — raising the smoking age and regulating e-cigarettes — passed the Senate.

One reason is obvious: So far in this election cycle, the major tobacco companies have plied legislators with nearly $364,000 in campaign contributions, according to MapLight, which tracks political money. Of that, 83% has gone to Republicans — who make up only 35% of the Legislature — and 17% to Democrats.

Add the last election cycle to this one, and Big Tobacco has donated $894,000, 71% to Republicans and 29% to Democrats.

Most Democrats voted for the anti-tobacco legislation. Most Republicans voted against.

The Senate intends to approve Assembly amendments and send the entire package to noncommittal Gov. Jerry Brown this week. Unless.

Behind the scenes, Senate leader Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) quietly is offering to negotiate with tobacco. If the industry were to allow the Legislature to pass a state tobacco tax, perhaps some of the package could be snuffed.

Then sponsors of a November ballot initiative that would raise the state cigarette tax by $2 per pack might be persuaded to withdraw their measure. That would save the tobacco industry upward of $100 million fighting the initiative.

And unions that are pushing it could plow their money into Democratic legislative races instead. Plus, there wouldn’t be a tobacco tax on the ballot to complicate life for a union-sponsored extension of Brown’s soak-the-rich income tax hike.

It’s all very complex. And unlikely. The Legislature has exhibited about all the courage it can against terrifying tobacco.

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-me-pol-sac-cap-tobacco-20160307-column.html

Duluth News Tribune: Training targets high tobacco use among addicts, mentally ill

By John Lundy

If someone is dealing with other addictions or mental health issues, it’s not the time to ask them to stop smoking.

Right?

Wrong, says an addictions psychiatrist from New Jersey who’s in Duluth to help lead a two-day training seminar on helping individuals with special challenges overcome tobacco use.

“The newer research suggests that when people address their smoking they actually have better long-term outcomes,” said Jill Williams, who specializes at Rutgers University’s Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in treatment of tobacco and other addictions in mentally ill populations. “When you cue the brain with nicotine, it’s really not different than other drugs.”

Williams is making her third visit to Duluth at the behest of the American Lung Association in Minnesota. After conducting a one-day session in the Twin Cities, she came to the Public Safety Building in Duluth on Thursday to work with about 60 behavioral health professionals from throughout Northeastern Minnesota; the training continues today.

The target is a topic that has “been shuffled to the side,” in the words of Pat McKone, regional senior director for the American Lung Association.

Even as tobacco use overall in the United States continues to decline to unprecedented lows, use by vulnerable groups such as addicts and the mentally ill remains stubbornly high, McKone and Williams said.

For instance, according to Williams:

  • Although the rate of smoking in Minnesota is down to 14 percent, the rate for Minnesotans with addictions or mental illness is between 40 and 60 percent.
  • The No. 1 cause of death in alcoholics is health problems related to tobacco use.
  • Fifty percent of people with mental illness die of tobacco-related causes.

“We always remark to the audience: Imagine if 50 percent of our patients died of suicide, how that would be front page news,” Williams said. “Fifty percent die from tobacco and we don’t do anything about it.”

People with serious mental illnesses die, on average, 25 years earlier than the rest of the population, McKone said. “And it’s not from suicide; it’s not from drug overdose. It’s from heart disease, COPD and cancer.”

Over a couple of years, Williams has offered the training to about a thousand specialists in Minnesota, she said. But they still represent a minority.

“What we hear them say … is that they’re the lone voice at their agency and everyone else is sort of opposed or still believes the myths or the idea that we should let people smoke and not pay attention to it,” Williams said. “So we still have a lot more people to get to.”

One sign of that is that only one in four mental health treatment centers has a smoking-cessation program, she said.

Families of individuals being treated for addiction or mental illness should advocate for treating their loved one’s tobacco addiction along with the other problems, McKone said. She called the reduced life expectancy for people with addictions and mental illness a social injustice.

Williams added: “Everyone has someone in their family with mental illness or addiction, and we can’t just look the other way.”

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/news/3956324-training-targets-high-tobacco-use-among-addicts-mentally-ill

KFYR-TV: ND Gets 'F' Grade for Tobacco Taxes on State of Tobacco Control Report

By: Amanda Skrzypchak, KFYR-TV
When it comes to taxes on tobacco North Dakota gets an F from the American Lung Association.
Released in it’s annual State of Tobacco Control Report Wednesday, North Dakota’s overall grades didn’t change from last year. The report shows the state received A’s for smoke free air, as well as prevention and control program spending. A C for access to cessation and an F for tobacco taxes.
Cigarette taxes are at 44 cents per pack making it one of the lowest in the nation.
The CDC best practices show that increasing the price of tobacco is the most effective way to reduce the amount of kids smoking.
For a complete look at the report and compare our state to others visit stateoftobaccocontrol.org.
http://www.kfyrtv.com/home/headlines/ND-Gets-F-Grade-for-Tobacco-Takes-367523391.html

National Survey Shows Youth Cigarette Smoking Again Falls to Record Low, but E-Cigarettes and Cigars Threaten Progress

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:            December 16, 2015
National Survey Shows Youth Cigarette Smoking Again Falls to Record Low, but E-Cigarettes and Cigars Threaten Progress
Results Show Why FDA Must Act Now to Regulate E-Cigarettes and Cigars 
Statement of Matthew L. Myers, President, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
WASHINGTON, DC – In terrific news for the nation’s health, the government-sponsored Monitoring the Future survey released today shows that the steep, decades-long decline in youth cigarette smoking continues, with smoking rates falling to record lows in 2015 among all three grades surveyed (grades 8, 10 and 12). Cigarette use among 12th graders fell to just 11.4 percent from 13.6 percent last year and 36.5 percent in 1997, representing extraordinary and historic progress.
However, the survey also contains fresh warning signs that other tobacco products – electronic cigarettes and cigars that are sold in an array of sweet, kid-friendly flavors – may be undermining these gains and luring kids into nicotine addiction. For the second year in a row, the survey finds that significantly more teens reported using e-cigarettes than regular cigarettes in the past 30 days. In addition, teens reported using flavored little cigars at the same rate as cigarettes, and the percentage of teens who smoked tobacco in the past 30 days increased by more than half when cigarillos are included with regular cigarettes.
These findings should spur the White House to quickly issue a long-overdue rule providing for Food and Drug Administration regulation of all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes and cigars. It has been nearly 20 months since the FDA issued its proposed rule and nearly two months since the FDA sent the final rule to the White House for review. We cannot afford further delays that allow the tobacco industry to continue targeting our kids with a new generation of tobacco products. In addition, Congress must let the FDA do its job and reject proposals to weaken the FDA’s authority over e-cigarettes, cigars or any tobacco product.
The continuing decline in youth cigarette smoking is unquestionably good news that will improve the nation’s health and save lives:

  • For all three grades combined, the percentage of students who reporting smoking cigarettes in the prior 30 days fell from 8 percent in 2014 to 7 percent in 2015 – a statistically significant drop. Past-month smoking fell to 3.6 percent among 8th graders, 6.3 percent among 10th graders and 11.4 percent among 12th graders, all record lows.
  • Long-term trends are especially dramatic. Since peaking around 1996-1997, smoking rates have fallen by 83 percent among 8th graders, 79 percent among 10th graders and 69 percent among 12th graders. Daily cigarette use has fallen even more steeply, with just 5.5 percent of 12th graders reporting daily smoking in 2015.

These results demonstrate that we know how to win the fight against tobacco by implementing science-based strategies. These include higher tobacco taxes, strong smoke-free laws, well-funded tobacco prevention and cessation programs that include mass media campaigns, increasing the tobacco sale age to 21 and effective FDA regulation of tobacco products. Progress has accelerated following the largest-ever increase in the federal cigarette tax (a 62-cent increase implemented in 2009) and unprecedented national media campaigns launched by the CDC, the FDA and Truth Initiative. Rather than breeding complacency, our progress should spur elected officials to step up these proven measures and end the tobacco epidemic for good.
The survey’s findings on e-cigarettes and cigars are deeply troubling:

  • In all three grades, e-cigarette use far exceeded regular cigarette use in the past 30 days – 9.5 percent to 3.6 percent among 8th graders, 14 percent to 6.3 percent among 10th graders and 16.2 percent to 11.4 percent among 12th graders. These results also indicate e-cigarettes are more likely to be a pathway to tobacco addiction than away from it. More than half of students said their primary reasons for using e-cigarettes was to experiment and more than 30 percent said it was because they tasted good, while less than 10 percent said they used e-cigarettes to help quit regular cigarettes.
  • Teens reported smoking flavored little cigars at the same rate as cigarettes, with 11.4 percent of 12th graders reporting use of flavored little cigars in the past 30 days. When both cigarettes and flavored cigarillos are included, smoking rates in the past 30 days increased to 6.6 percent among 8th graders, 9.8 percent among 10th graders and 17.8 percent among 12th graders.

These findings are not surprising given the irresponsible marketing of e-cigarettes and cigars in a wide variety of kid-friendly flavors, such as gummy bear, cotton candy and watermelon.  E-cigarette makers have marketed their products with the same tactics long used to market regular cigarettes to kids, including celebrity endorsements, slick TV and magazine ads, and sponsorships of race cars and concerts.
Despite our progress, we cannot let up in the fight against tobacco because the tobacco industry never lets up. The industry spends $9.6 billion a year – more than $1 million every hour – to market its deadly products, and it is constantly seeking innovative ways to entice our kids. It’s no wonder tobacco use is still the number one cause of preventable death in our country, killing more than 480,000 people and costing about $170 billion in health care expenses each year. We cannot win the fight against tobacco unless elected officials put our nation’s kids and health before the special interests of the tobacco industry.
The Monitoring the Future survey has been conducted annually since 1975 by researchers at the University of Michigan and is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Fargo Forum: WF high school rethinking assignment to urge lawmakers to hike tobacco tax

By Helmut Schmidt

WEST FARGO – Add to North Dakota’s tobacco tax or leave it alone?
That’s a question Sheyenne High School teachers agree would have been better left up to students to decide.

On Friday, senior government class students teamed up with a freshman health class in a collaborative project to write letters to local legislators about the tobacco tax rate in North Dakota. The students thanked lawmakers who voted to increase the tobacco tax in the state during the last session, and encouraged those who didn’t support a higher tax on tobacco to consider doing so in the future.
“For our state, we have very strict laws as far as tobacco in public buildings, but as far as tobacco tax, we are one of the lowest in the nation, and that’s what we are trying to deter,” health teacher Tom Kirchoffner told WDAY-TV.
The original intent was to send the letters to the legislators, but that’s not what happened.
“After this group of teachers did the project, they sat down and they debriefed it. What were the strengths of that project … and what were some of the areas for improvement?,” district spokeswoman Heather Konschak said Tuesday.
That debriefing took place Friday, she said.
“They realized as they chatted about it that one of the areas for improvement would have been that they gave the student group their perspective,” Konschak said. “The students weren’t able to discuss it and come up with their own perspective. And from a government class standpoint, that’s not what you do. You allow kids to discuss and form their own perspective and viewpoint.”
The teachers “decided that because that’s not what happened in the project, that they weren’t going to send the letters,” because it is possible that’s “not an accurate depiction of what the kids would have picked if they had been given the opportunity to do it on their own,” Konschak said.
The decision was “there should have been more open dialogue,” to let the students choose their positions on the issue, Konschak said.
Konschak said one of the teachers got the idea from a conference. The project was in addition to the required curriculum, she said.
Kirchoffner didn’t immediately return a phone message seeking comment Tuesday. He was unavailable because he’s a basketball coach and was traveling to a game, Konschak said.
North Dakota’s tax per pack of cigarettes is 44 cents, which puts it at 48th in the nation. Minnesota’s per pack tax is $2.90, putting it at No. 8 in the U.S., according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
New York has the highest state tax per pack at $4.35, while Missouri has the lowest state tax at 17 cents per pack. The national average is $1.60 per pack, the campaign reports.
Those figures do not include local taxes. The highest state-local tax combination per pack is $6.16 in Chicago, with New York City second at $5.85 per pack, the campaign reports.
http://www.inforum.com/news/3904754-wf-high-school-rethinking-assignment-urge-lawmakers-hike-tobacco-tax

Bismarck Tribune Editorial: N.D. becomes leader in tobacco fight

North Dakota has garnered praise for its spending efforts to reduce tobacco use. There’s a little irony in this since the Legislature in the past has questioned the amount of spending.
The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids looked at how states used the billions of dollars received from lawsuits settled with major tobacco companies in 1998.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, North Dakota is the only state to spend at levels it recommended. The state also was one of five states to spend at least 50 percent of what the CDC recommends.
Spending by states on tobacco prevention programs bottomed out at $459.5 million in 2013, according to the campaign’s report, and is expected to reach $468 million in 2016. At the same time, an estimated $25.8 billion will be collected in settlement funds and tobacco taxes. Tobacco companies reportedly spend about $9.6 billion a year on marketing. North Dakota has $10 million planned for fiscal year 2016.
The anti-tobacco campaign appears to be working.
A survey conducted by the state Department of Public Instruction and the Department of Health shows 80 percent of the students responding said they did not use cigarettes, cigars or smokeless tobacco, an increase from 74 percent two years ago. The percentage of high school students who said they had smoked a cigarette at least once in the month dropped from 19 percent to 12 percent. The percentage of high school students who said they had ever tried to smoke a cigarette was 35 percent, down from 41 percent in 2013. Smokeless tobacco use declined from 14 percent to 11 percent this year.

The anti-tobacco effort emphasizes keeping kids from using tobacco and if they do, getting them to quit. The numbers indicate they are being successful. Some have questioned the amount of money being spent and how it’s being used. While the campaign may appear heavy-handed at times, it’s getting the point across. In the past some legislators wanted to spend less on anti-tobacco efforts and divert the tobacco settlement money to other programs. In 2008 North Dakotans passed a measure requiring a portion of the settlement funds be used for tobacco prevention.
Even a tobacco company favors the spending. “We believe states should use (settlement) payments to fund tobacco cessation and underage tobacco prevention programs at levels recommended by the Centers for Disease Control,” Brian May, a spokesman for Philip Morris, told the Forum News Service.
The anti-tobacco effort has been successful in other areas with smoking banned in public areas. And now the efforts go beyond traditional forms of tobacco to vaporing products. The dangers of second-hand smoke is another focus, with apartment residents being urged to demand a smoke-free environment. Some may think this is going too far, but anti-tobacco campaign is on a roll and has the money to keep going.
Society is getting closer to being smoke-free, too fast for some and too slowly for others.
http://bismarcktribune.com/news/opinion/editorial/n-d-becomes-leader-in-tobacco-fight/article_ed7dc472-6eb0-5e6d-b63b-51c4cd23e599.html

NBC News: Cigarette Smoke Might Cause Infertility, Early Menopause, Study Shows

by Maggie Fox

Tobacco smoke might do more than cause cancer, heart disease and lung damage. It might also injure fertility in women, researchers reported Tuesday.
Women who smoked the most, and who started at the youngest ages, went through menopause almost two years earlier than women who never smoked, Danielle Smith of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo and colleagues reported.
Women who remembered breathing in the most secondhand smoke went through menopause an average of 13 months earlier than women who didn’t think they’d ever breathed any in, the team reported in the journal Tobacco Control.
The team studied more than 93,000 women taking part in the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study between 1993 and 1998. They filled out very detailed questionnaires on lifestyle habits, health problems and medical diagnoses.
They found that women who smoked 100 cigarettes or more in their lives had a 14 percent greater risk of infertility and a 26 percent greater risk of going through menopause before they turned 50.
The study helps confirm other studies that have linked smoking with early menopause.
Women who grew up with a smoker in the house for 10 years or more, those who lived with a spouse who smoked for 20 years or more, and those who worked with smokers for 10 years or more were 18 percent more likely to have had infertility problems than women who had never been passive smokers.
Overall, about 15 percent of the women said they had struggled to conceive for a year at a stretch or more, and 45 percent said they went through menopause before they turned 50.
There’s a debate over whether fertility rates have fallen, and many people have blamed chemicals known as endocrine disruptors in cans, bottles and in water supplies. But tobacco also contains these.
The toxins in tobacco smoke can interfere with the production of hormones related to fertility cycles, they can damage the production of egg cells, they can hurt the embryo before it gets implanted in the wall of the uterus, and they can restrict the processes that prepare a womb for pregnancy, the researchers said.
“Tobacco toxins also seem to lower the age of natural menopause by reducing circulating estrogen,” they wrote.
Smoking can also affect men in specific ways. For instance, it seems to damage the male Y chromosome especially badly.
Smoking is on the wane in the U.S. Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the percentage of U.S. adults who smoke cigarettes declined from 20.9 percent in 2005 to 16.8 percent in 2014.
And smoking bans have made secondhand smoke in the workplace and public areas a thing of the past in most states.
http://www.nbcnews.com/health/womens-health/cigarette-smoke-might-cause-infertility-early-menopause-study-shows-n480661

Fargo Forum editorial: Tobacco cessation succeeds

There is good news in the war against tobacco use: North Dakota is winning.
The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids said last week that North Dakota is the only state spending at levels recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on tobacco cessation programs. That level is 50 percent of funds designated from the 1998 tobacco settlement lawsuits.

But it’s about more than spending dollars where they were meant to be spent. It’s about results, and on that score North Dakota is a leader. For example, a portion of the money was spent to fund a study of secondhand smoke’s effects in Grand Forks, the results of which were pivotal in that city passing a 2010 law that outlawed smoking in bars, casinos and truck stops. Several North Dakota cities, using information compiled locally and by the North Dakota Center for Tobacco Prevention and Control Policy, easily approved ordinances directed at ending secondhand smoke in public places and businesses. Most of the cities were ahead of a Legislature that remained in the thrall of the state’s tobacco lobby, and it took a 2012 ballot measure to impose statewide restrictions on smoking and secondhand smoke.
There has been some grousing and whining about how tobacco settlement money is being spent in North Dakota. It’s come mostly from special interests that lost the tobacco cessation battle years ago. They were wrong then and are wrong now about the effects of the expenditures. For example, during the time that education and public service efforts were ratcheted up, smoking among youths plunged to 11.7 percent this year after hovering at about 20 percent the eight previous years.
Anti-tobacco programs work. The statistics are unambiguous. Tobacco settlement money has been well-spent in North Dakota, and the CDC and others recognize the state’s success. That’s good news.
Forum editorials represent the opinion of Forum management and the newspaper’s Editorial Board
http://www.inforum.com/opinion/editorials/3903588-forum-editorial-tobacco-cessation-succeeds

WDAY: Sheyenne students write letters to lawmakers asking them to raise tobacco tax

By Jordee Kalk

West Fargo (WDAY TV) – A creative collaboration for students at Sheyenne High School happened Friday.
Senior government students teamed up with a freshman health class to write letters to local legislators on the tobacco tax rate in North Dakota. Students thanked legislators who voted to increase the tobacco tax throughout the state in the last legislative session and encouraged ones who didn’t to think about doing so in the future.

Currently, North Dakota’s tax is 44 cents per carton [sic] of cigarettes.
“For our state we have very strict laws as far as tobacco in public buildings, nut as far as tobacco tax, we are one of the lowest in the nation and that’s what we are trying to deter,” Sheyenne High School Teacher Tom Kirchoffner said.
According to the Campaign For Tobacco Free Kids, the average tobacco tax in the U.S. is $1.60 per pack. The campaign claims North Dakota has the third lowest tax rate.
Read more or watch the video: http://www.wday.com/news/3902095-sheyenne-students-write-letters-lawmakers-asking-them-raise-tobacco-tax

AP: Higher cigarette taxes could save babies' lives, study finds

CHICAGO — When it costs more to smoke, fewer babies die, according to a new study that links rising cigarette taxes with declines in infant mortality, especially among blacks.
With nearly 4 million annual births nationwide, the results suggest that a $1 increase in cigarette taxes would be expected to lead to 750 fewer infant deaths each year, the researchers said.
Smoking during pregnancy can lead to complications including sometimes dangerous premature births and sudden infant death syndrome. U.S. smoking rates declined during years examined in the study – 1999 to 2010. The research, paid for by the National Institutes of Health, was published online Tuesday in the journal Pediatrics.
The study
Cigarettes are subject to state and federal excise taxes. Dr. Stephen Patrick of Vanderbilt University and colleagues examined data on changes in those taxes and cigarette prices from every state over 11 years. They also analyzed federal data on infant mortality in each state.
Taxes per cigarette pack increased from 84 cents to $2.37 on average, adjusted for inflation. Infant mortality per 1,000 births decreased from about 7 deaths to 6 deaths on average. Among blacks, deaths declined from about 14 to 11 per 1,000 births.
The researchers considered factors other than smoking that influence infant mortality, including family income and education, but still found a link with rising taxes.
The context
Almost 11 percent of U.S. women smoke during pregnancy, federal data show. Previous studies have linked higher cigarette taxes with declines in smoking during pregnancy and with better newborn health. The researchers say their work is the first examining these taxes and U.S. infant mortality rates.
Raising tobacco taxes is among strategies the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention supports to reduce smoking. A U.S. Surgeon General report last year said reducing smoking among pregnant women and women of reproductive age “remains a critical component of public health efforts to improve maternal and child health.”
The researchers say the taxes could have negative consequences for pregnant smokers who don’t quit and can’t afford to buy necessities because of high cigarette prices – a possibility the study didn’t examine. The study lacked information on all variables that could affect infant mortality. Still, they say their study adds to evidence for policymakers to consider in seeking ways to reduce infant deaths.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/higher-cigarette-taxes-save-babies-lives-study-finds/