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American Legacy Foundation® Supports World No Tobacco Day

5/30/2008

Call to Action to Eliminate Tobacco Adversiting Seen by Youth

WASHINGTON, DC – In observance of World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) on May 31, public health advocates and organizations from around the world are focusing on the critical need for continued emphasis on eliminating tobacco advertising that targets youth. Data shows that 80 percent of all smokers started smoking before age 18 and 90 percent of all smokers begin before age 20, so keeping youth from starting to smoke is vital to decreasing smoking rates and saving lives. The American Legacy Foundation^® joins our colleagues in tobacco control in voicing our strongest support for efforts to safeguard youth from tobacco ads that influence them so effectively in deciding to smoke their first cigarette that often leads to life-long tobacco addictions and premature death.

Now in its eighth year, the American Legacy Foundation's truth^® campaign works to keep young people from smoking by empowering them with facts and information to make their own informed decisions about tobacco use. truth^® arms youth with information about the marketing tactics of the tobacco industry, the truth about addiction, and the health effects and social consequences of smoking. The campaign has been linked conclusively with 22 percent of the overall decline in youth smoking rates from 2000-2002.

Research shows that 8.1 percent of middle school students and 21.7 percent of high school students smoke cigarettes in the United States. Tobacco use and addiction kills nearly 5 million people each year worldwide.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has stated that tobacco is the single most preventable cause of death in the world and recently reported that if dramatic steps aren’t taken to reduce tobacco use, more than one billion people worldwide will lose their lives to tobacco this century. Tobacco is the only legal consumer product that can harm everyone exposed to it - and it kills up to half of lifetime smokers who use it as intended, with its victims dying on average 13-14 years prematurely. Tobacco companies market to Third World nations, providing free gear and cigarettes to poor developing countries where smokers have less access to smoking cessation services. This is one reason why the American Legacy Foundation is devoted to reaching out to priority populations here in the U.S. to reduce disparities in health care.

“As part of a 2006 decision finding that US tobacco companies violated racketeering laws, the court recognized that the industry has viewed young people as “replacement smokers” for adult customers who lose their lives to tobacco-related disease,” said American Legacy Foundation President and CEO Cheryl Healton, Dr. P.H. said. “Leaders in public health and policy makers must therefore do all they can to shield youth from this highly effective marketing that often lures them to begin smoking. If we can keep kids from ever starting, we will have won a large part of the battle to bring smoking rates down and save lives,” she said.

The American Legacy Foundation supports the WHO and our colleagues in the tobacco control field, in urging an increase in public awareness about ways to reduce tobacco use among youth and providing help to those who smoke and need help in quitting.

The American Legacy Foundation^® is dedicated to building a world where young people reject tobacco and anyone can quit. Located in Washington, D.C., the foundation 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 contributing 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; research initiatives exploring the causes, consequences and approaches to reducing tobacco use; and a nationally-renowned program of outreach to priority populations. 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.americanlegacy.org/.

truth^®, launched in February 2000, is the largest national youth smoking prevention campaign and the only national campaign not directed by the tobacco industry. The campaign exposes the tactics of the tobacco industry, the truth about addiction, health effects and social consequences of smoking and allows teens to make informed choices about tobacco use by giving them the facts about the industry and its products. The campaign was created by the American Legacy Foundation^®, which was founded as a result of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement between the tobacco industry and 46 states.

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Contact: Julia Cartwright, 202-454-5596, Kim Collins, 904-280-2773