Lung Health News, Spring/Summer 2006
The American Lung Association of California is intensifying its campaign against tobacco addiction by advocating for a significant increase in the state’s tobacco tax, which would save lives. The association has joined forces with major health, tobacco prevention and children’s advocacy groups to form the Coalition for a Healthy California, which is sponsoring a tobacco tax initiative on the November 2006 ballot. The initiative would increase the state’s tobacco tax by $2.60 per pack and raise more than $2 billion for public health programs.
“Higher tobacco taxes make cigarettes more expensive, which not only deters children from smoking, but also motivates adults to quit smoking,” says Christine Bryant, board member for the American Lung Association of California. “This tobacco tax will save lives.”
Tobacco use is still the number one preventable cause of death and disease in this country, killing nearly 40,000 Californians every year.
The tax would fund tobacco prevention and education programs as well as a new lung cancer and lung disease research program, a statewide asthma program, emergency room care, children’s health insurance, community-based clinics, and nursing education.
With the current state tobacco tax still at 87 cents per pack, California is ranked 23rd among other states, earning it a D grade in the American Lung Association’s State of Tobacco Report released recently. The state earned an F in tobacco prevention and control spending based on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s best practices guidelines.
Proposition 99 Success Provides Model
California was on the leading edge of tobacco prevention and control after voters passed the landmark Proposition 99 tobacco tax in 1988. Adult smoking rates dropped drastically and fewer children started smoking thanks to prevention programs and campaigns encouraging smokers to quit. Since 1989, cigarette consumption has dropped by 59 percent and adult smoking rates have fallen by 7.4 percent.
“Who would have predicted that California’s Proposition 99 tobacco tax would be the envy and blueprint for tobacco-related public health changes worldwide,” says Dian Kiser, co-director of the American Lung Association of the East Bay’s RESPECT project, a Proposition 99-funded program that reaches out to low-income communities with tobacco education and cessation programs.
Programs like RESPECT have helped hundreds of thousands of Californians quit smoking and reduce their exposure to tobacco smoke. Countless more young people don’t smoke today because of Proposition 99-funded prevention programs.
But as spending on tobacco control programs has dipped, smoking rates have leveled off in California. A state this size should be spending between $165 and $442 million annually on prevention and cessation programs, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Instead, California invests only about $100 million each year.
Initiative Would Fund Lung Cancer Research and Asthma Programs
The tobacco tax initiative is a critical and desperately needed investment toward improving the health of all Californians. Beyond funding tobacco programs, the initiative would help fill some gaps in our already overburdened healthcare system, including health insurance for the more than 800,000 children without basic health coverage and improved emergency room access.
Funding for disease prevention programs, including a statewide asthma program, would help reduce the impact the asthma epidemic is having on our communities. Asthma rates have nearly doubled in the last 20 years and asthma is now a leading cause of missed school days. The initiative would also support much-needed asthma training for school personnel.
The new tax would fund the first-ever lung cancer and lung disease research program in the state. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in this country, killing more people than breast, prostate and colorectal cancer combined. Yet lung cancer research receives considerably less funding than other cancer research.
About $10 million annually would be invested in lung disease research, including asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which affect millions of Californians. The research program would be administered by the University of California.
With new funding from the tobacco tax, the more than 700 community-based clinics around the state that provide healthcare to the uninsured and underinsured would be able to increase services. Nursing education programs would also be expanded to help address the shortage of registered nurses in California.
“The initiative would not only help reduce smoking, it would improve public health by addressing key elements of our growing healthcare crisis,” Bryant says.
