Today is a National Day of Action on Prevention, a coordinated effort by hundreds of public health advocates around the country to protect critical prevention money in the new health reform law from deep cuts.
Proposals now moving forward on Capitol Hill would cut the prevention fund by two-thirds or more–just when evidence is mounting that proven prevention programs, especially those to keep kids from smoking and help smokers quit, pay big returns by reducing health care costs.
Cigarette smoking among American youth has dropped to record lows, with just 11.7 percent of kids in grades 8, 10 and 12 reporting that they smoked in the past month.
The annual Monitoring the Future survey released today shows that since youth smoking rates peaked in the mid-1990s, they have dropped dramatically — by 71 percent among eighth graders, 61 percent among students in 10th grade and 49 percent among those in 12th grade.
The tobacco industry has maneuvered around marketing restrictions aimed at protecting youth and found yet another way to hook kids when they're young: Flavored 'little cigars' that are so cheap kids can easily afford them, and so sweet with kid-friendly flavors that some young smokers believe they're less addictive than cigarettes.
Slow progress in bringing smoking rates down, coupled with dramatic increases in obesity and diabetes, mean the nation's overall health didn't improve in the past year.
United Health Foundation’s annual report, America’s Health Rankings, ranks states based on progress in fighting the causes of chronic diseases that are overburdening the health care system and driving up costs. States that showed the most improvement this year were New York and New Jersey — both of which advanced because of strides in reducing smoking.
States that require comprehensive insurance coverage for treatments that help smokers quit and adequately fund cessation services such as quit lines are the most “quit friendly” places to live, according to a new report by the American Lung Association.
BBC World's innovative series The Health Show will broadcast a report this weekend examining India's daunting problem of tobacco use among children and its shocking consequences for health.
Young people in India commonly use gutka, a carcinogenic cocktail of flavored smokeless tobacco and additives. Extremely cheap and easily purchased by children and teenagers, an estimated 5 million kids are addicted to the product. It's responsible for 90 percent of oral cancer cases in India.
States have slashed funding for programs to reduce tobacco use by 12 percent in the past year and by 36 percent over the past four years, threatening the nation’s progress against tobacco, according to a report released today by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and other public health organizations.
The states this year will collect a near-record $25.6 billion in revenue from the 1998 state tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, but will spend only 1.8 percent of it — $456.7 million — on programs to prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit. In other words, the states are spending less than two cents of every dollar in tobacco revenue to fight tobacco use.
Major League Baseball and the players' union have taken an historic first step toward getting tobacco out of the ballgame by placing significant limits on smokeless tobacco at the ballpark and whenever players are around fans.
Under the new contract agreement that MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association announced, whenever fans are at the ballpark, players, manager and coaches will no longer be able to carry a tobacco tin or package in their uniform pocket, or anywhere on their bodies.
Marking five years of significant achievements in global tobacco control, Bloomberg Philanthropies has released a report on the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use that shows ground-breaking progress in reducing tobacco use and protecting everyone from secondhand smoke.
Today is the American Cancer Society's Great American Smokeout, and President Obama is marking the occasion with a video underscoring his Administration's commitment to winning the fight against tobacco — the nation's leading cause of preventable death.
For smokers trying to quit, there's no better time than to start than tomorrow — the Great American Smokeout.
For 36 years, the American Cancer Society has designated the day for smokers to quit, and for those who love them to give help and support.
Mexico saw a surge in tobacco tax revenues from January through September 2011, according to the finance ministry — the result of a 2010 hike in tobacco taxes that industry opponents had claimed would increase smuggling and lose revenue.
Instead, Mexico's finance minister said the historic increase in cigarette taxes, which raised the tax per cigarette pack by seven pesos, boosted revenues by 9 percent after adjusting for inflation.
Nearly 11,000 baseball fans and health advocates have sent an open letter to player representatives of the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) urging players to agree to prohibit smokeless tobacco use at games and on camera.
The overwhelming majority of smokers want to quit and more than half of them tried to do so last year, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Yet too few smokers are using proven treatments, such as medication and counseling, to help them stop smoking for good.
Indonesia's Constitutional Court has upheld critical tobacco control related aspects of the country's 2009 Health Law, affirming that tobacco is indeed addictive and making it clear that pictorial warnings on cigarette packs are required and not just optional.
The ruling came on a challenge to the law backed by tobacco companies, which are politically powerful and have aggressively fought efforts to reduce tobacco use. The Indonesian government has lagged in implementing the law, bowing to the clout of tobacco interests.
Are you an aspiring filmmaker or broadcaster? Or perhaps just a passionate youth advocate with a camera or microphone who is ready to take on Big Tobacco?
The 4th annual Kicking Butts on Film (… and Radio!) contest is underway.
Two more members of Congress and Little League International have joined the drive to end smokeless tobacco use in Major League Baseball, urging big-league ballplayers to become better role models for the next generation of fans.
Science has established that cigarette smoking harms nearly every organ in the human body, causing lung and other cancers, heart disease, reproductive damage and many other serious diseases.
Now a new study from the National Institutes of Health highlights another insidious way in which tobacco use can harm health: Nicotine may be a 'gateway drug' that makes the brain more susceptible to addiction to cocaine, and possibly other illicit drugs.
A great way to mark Veterans' Day is to help a veteran or someone currently serving in the military to quit using tobacco.
The smoking rate among members of the U.S. military — 30.6 percent in 2008 — is far higher than for the adult population as a whole. Despite slow but steady progress in reducing smoking among American adults, the rate of smoking among military personnel has remained unchanged since 1998, when it was 29.9 percent.
ABC World News Now reports on young baseball players who started chewing tobacco as teens and now can't break their addiction. Southern Baptist leader Dr. Richard Land and ESPN analyst Bobby Valentine tell the network that Major League Baseball must provide better role models.
Says Valentine: 'The message is this–wise up! We have to put forth a better face, and that face has to be one without a bulge in our lip.'