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New CDC Survey Data Again Underscores the Need for Renewed Focus on Youth Tobacco Prevention

8/26/2010

Statement by Legacy President and CEO, Dr. Cheryl Healton

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today’s release of data from the 2009 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) showed that though much progress has been made since 2000, the decline of youth smoking continues to slow. The NYTS, from the Centers for Disease and Control, finds that youth smoking rates for middle school students fell from 6.3 percent in 2006 to 5.2 percent in 2009. Among high school students, smoking rates dipped from 19.8 percent in 2006 to 17.2 percent in 2009. But more alarming, the decrease in youth smoking rates is so minor in the past two years, that the CDC considers there to be no notable decline.

This information, published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), again heightens the need for a renewed emphasis on youth tobacco control. Legacy, in conjunction with our public health allies, reiterates the importance of well-funded, effective, evidence-based tobacco control and prevention programs.

Tobacco use, the number one cause of preventable death in the United States continues to kill more than 400,000 people every year. With nearly 80 percent of smokers starting prior to age 18, tried and true programs that engage teens and keep them from smoking will preempt our youth from potential lives of addiction and tobacco-related disease.

A wide body of evidence proves that effective youth tobacco prevention programs work. Launched in 2000, Legacy’s truth® youth smoking prevention campaign is celebrating its tenth year of effective results in keeping teens from smoking. According to a study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine in April 2009, research found that in the first four years of the truth campaign (2000-2004), there were 450,000 fewer smokers as a direct result of truth. But as funds for the campaign have been in decline and state youth prevention programs have been hard hit by state budget crises, the tobacco industry continues to spend upwards of $34 million a day marketing its products in the U.S. alone. The fact that smoking rates continue to stall only reiterates that this is a battle that is ongoing for the future health of generations of teenagers.

If we want any hope of giving our youth a tobacco-free future, we must focus resources and attention to research-based, proven-effective youth smoking prevention programs.

Legacy 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/.

Legacy is equipped with a VideoLink ReadyCam™ television studio system, providing journalists with faster, easier access to the nation’s leading tobacco prevention and cessation experts. From this in-house broadcast studio, Legacy can offer immediate access to its experts to comment on breaking news, new research publications, or any news related to youth smoking prevention, adult quit smoking programs, or any issue related to smoking. The studio is connected directly to the Vyvx fiber network and is always available for live or pre-taped interviews. To arrange an interview, please contact Julia Cartwright at 202-454-5596.

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