Far Reach of Anti-Smoke Signals

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Californians should be gratified by moves in other states to copy our aggressive anti-smoking efforts. That news should also encourage state officials here as they roll out a new series of hard-hitting ads.

Money from the settlement of a national class action against cigarette makers, along with funding from other sources, is paying for new anti-smoking campaigns in states like Iowa, Massachusetts and Florida. Public health officials in those states have studied California’s anti-tobacco laws--this remains the only state to ban smoking in all workplaces--and the television ads run here to dissuade kids from smoking. Other states have drawn the obvious conclusion: California’s approach works.

California’s lung cancer rate dropped 14% between 1988 and 1997, says a new study from the federal Centers for Disease Control. The number of teenage smokers has fallen by more than a third in recent years, and statewide only 18% of Californians smoke, down from 25% in 1988.

The lung cancer numbers are especially significant. An estimated 3,000 to 4,000 fewer Californians this year will be found to have this horrible disease, and some 2,000 fewer residents will die. Because the great majority of lung cancer patients die of their disease and because nearly 80% of lung cancer cases are directly attributable to cigarette smoking, successful efforts to cut smoking could produce an even steeper drop in the cancer rate.

These findings send a clear message about the continuing value of California’s high-profile public campaign against smoking. The 25-cent-a-pack cigarette tax that state voters approved in 1988 will help generate $45 million this year for media advertising, part of a $114-million tobacco control budget that includes funding for school programs, community groups and smoking research.

Both former Gov. Pete Wilson and Gov. Gray Davis have rightly been criticized for favoring tobacco ads that pull their punches. But seven new television spots released last month are refreshingly tough and to the point. The new data on lung cancer and smoking rates underscore the value of these efforts.