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Legacy Calls for Action in Reducing Adult Smoking in Response to CDC Smoking Rates Report
11/13/2009
Statement by Cheryl G. Healton, Dr PH, President and CEO
Washington, D.C. – Legacy urges the health community, media, policymakers and general public to do more in light of today’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report announcing the increase in U.S. adult smoking rates in 2008. The CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) indicated that 20.6 percent (46 million) of adults in the United States were smokers in 2008, up from 19.8 percent in 2007. Following last month’s alarming reports from the Institute of Medicine and the American Association of Pediatricians on secondhand smoke, this report comes at a critical time as November marks both Lung Cancer Awareness Month and the Great American Smoke Out.
After years of decline, this recent plateau in adult smoking rates underscores the fact that complacency is the enemy in the battle against tobacco use. The national health objective for 2010 is to have 12 percent adult smoking rate - a goal that is looking even less likely with this latest increase.
Struggles with job loss, health care costs, and financial downturn are just some of the triggers for American smokers. According to a Legacy survey released this time last year, a greater percentage of stressed smokers with a household income of less than $35k reported smoking more cigarettes per day (38 percent) due to the current state of the economy, compared to those with household incomes of $35-74k (24 percent) and those with incomes of more than $75k (13 percent). As we approach 2010, we must act quickly to save more lives from the effects of tobacco-related diseases.
To renew efforts to help adults who smoke to quit, this week Legacy announced the second phase of its national quit smoking program, EX®. With access to free quit tools and information as well as a social network at http://www.becomeanex.org/, smokers can begin to “re-learn” life without cigarettes, identify certain triggers that lead them to smoke and find support other current and former smokers.
Quitting smoking is ultimately one of the single most important lifestyle changes one can make to improve and extend lives. Because tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States; smokers need to be armed with all the best, evidence-based information available to make the most informed choices about the smoking cessation medications and resources available to them. Clean indoor air initiatives, increased tobacco excise taxes and effective counter-marketing campaigns have proven to decrease smoking rates. With adult smoking rates on the rise, we must act quickly, using the tools we know that work, to turn this increase around and save lives.
LegacySM is dedicated to building a world where young people reject tobacco and anyone can quit. Located in Washington, D.C., the national public health organization helps American live longer, healthier lives. Legacy develops programs that address the health effects of tobacco use, especially among vulnerable populations disproportionately affected by the toll of tobacco, through grants, technical assistance and training, partnerships, youth activism, and counter-marketing and grassroots marketing campaigns. The foundation’s programs include truth®, a national youth smoking prevention campaign that has been cited as having contributed to significant declines in youth smoking; EX®, an innovative public health program designed to speak to smokers in their own language and change the way they approach quitting; and research initiatives exploring the causes, consequences and approaches to reducing tobacco use. The American Legacy Foundation was created as a result of the November 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) reached between attorneys general from 46 states, five U.S. territories and the tobacco industry. Visit http://www.legacyforhealth.org/.
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Contact: Julia Cartwright, 202-454-5596, jcartwright@legacyforhealth.org