Landmark Report Marks 50th Anniversary

ND Center for Tobacco Prevention & Control Policy
January 11 is the 50th anniversary of the landmark Surgeon General’s report that first linked smoking as a cause of lung cancer. North Dakota’s Center for Tobacco Prevention and Control Policy (the Center) and other tobacco prevention groups across the country are using the anniversary to note the important progress in tobacco prevention.
According to surgeongeneral.gov, the prevalence of smoking among U.S. adults has been reduced by 50 percent since the release of the first Surgeon General’s report on smoking and health in 1964. A new study published in the “Journal of the American Medical Association” claims that approximately 8 million lives have been saved by U.S. tobacco prevention measures. The same study also concludes tobacco control efforts have extended the average American life span by 19 to 20 years.
In North Dakota, voter initiatives are responsible for the state’s successful tobacco prevention efforts. In 2008, voters chose to fund a comprehensive tobacco prevention program. Then, in 2012, voters chose to implement a comprehensive smoke-free law, which took effect a year ago in December. These initiatives improve the public’s health by protecting people from secondhand smoke in all indoor workplaces, preventing youth from starting to use tobacco and helping tobacco users quit.
The comprehensive program has shown positive results across the state. North Dakota now has 131 school districts-representing 60 percent of the state’s K-12 students-that have implemented comprehensive tobacco-free policies. And, according to the 2013 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, high school smoking rates have dropped to 19 percent from 22.4 percent in 2009.
“We’ve made a lot of progress towards reducing the devastating toll tobacco use has on our state and across the country, but we still have more work to do,” said Jeanne Prom, executive director for the Center. “Tobacco companies spend billions each year marketing their deadly products to hook our youth to a life-time addiction to nicotine.”
Smoking kills 800 North Dakotans each year, and costs the state $247 million in healthcare and $192 million in lost productivity. Across the country, those numbers jump to 440,000 annual smoking-related deaths, $96 billion in healthcare costs and $97 billion in lost productivity. Tobacco prevention measures are essential in eliminating the harmful effects caused by the epidemic of tobacco use.
According to Prom, one of the most effective ways to keep kids from using tobacco and convince people to quit is to make tobacco less affordable by increasing the tobacco tax.
“North Dakota’s current tobacco tax is one of the lowest in the country at $0.44; it hasn’t increased since 1993,” said Prom. “Raising the tax from $0.44 to $2, a $1.56 increase per pack, would go a long way in reducing tobacco use in North Dakota.”
A fact sheet produced by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and the Cancer Action Network shows the positive impact a $1.56 tobacco tax increase would have in North Dakota. The higher tax would save approximately 5,400 lives that would otherwise have been lost to smoking-related causes. The youth smoking rate would decline by 24 percent, 9,900 kids in North Dakota would be kept from becoming addicted adult smokers and 8,200 current adult smokers would quit. Over the next five years, that amounts to about $7.3 million saved in healthcare costs.
“The health benefits of a higher tobacco tax are clear because higher taxes are proven to reduce tobacco use,” Prom said. “Ultimately, it’s about saving lives and improving health for the people of North Dakota.”
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