California Called Model on Tobacco
California’s tobacco control laws are among the toughest in the nation, making the state a role model for other governments in the battle to decrease deaths from tobacco use, according to a study released Thursday by the American Lung Assn.
“If the other 49 states had followed California, 300,000 Americans would not have died” from tobacco-related illnesses over a 10-year period, said Cassandra Welch, the study’s co-editor.
The report praised California specifically for using a portion of revenue from its 87-cent excise tax--among the highest in the nation--to fund tobacco use prevention. It also praised California laws that prohibit smoking in the workplace.
California has “the strongest indoor air laws in the country” to protect workers from secondhand smoke, Welch said.
But the organization gave the rest of the nation mixed reviews, and urged legislatures to pass more stringent tobacco control laws to combat advertising and lobbying by the industry.
“Big Tobacco continues to wield undue influence in statehouses around the country,” said John Garrison, the association’s chief executive.
Twelve states place only minimal restrictions on smoking in public places, the report said. And one, Alabama, has no state restrictions.
Thirty-six states apply cigarette excise taxes that are at least three times lower than the $1.50 the association recommends. Virginia’s 25-cent per pack tax is the country’s lowest.
Aggressive tobacco control laws such as those in California save lives, according to a New England Journal of Medicine report cited by the lung association. From 1989 to 1997, an estimated 33,000 lives were saved statewide because of anti-tobacco laws, the journal report showed.
“A large and aggressive tobacco control program is associated with a reduction in deaths from heart disease in the short run,” the New England journal study said.
In California, 18.7% of adults smoke, compared with 24.1% nationwide, federal figures show.
The California branch of the lung association hopes that money from the landmark 1998 tobacco settlement between the states and the industry will help decrease smoking rates even further. California is one of six states that has yet to decide how to spend its share of the money.
Of the 44 states that have decided, only nine devote a significant portion to tobacco prevention, the lung association said.
Association members in California are calling for the state to spend at least $165 million of its $468 million share of the settlement funds on anti-tobacco programs, said Paul Knepprath, the state organization’s advocacy director.
Gov. Gray Davis’ January budget proposal included $20 million from the settlement to be used to increase tobacco control spending for the 2001-02 fiscal year. Knepprath hopes the Legislature will increase that figure.
“We need a significant commitment from Gov. Davis and the Legislature to step up California’s campaign against tobacco use,” he said.
Knepprath said increased funds are critical because the tobacco industry spends more than $450 million each year on advertising in the state. In contrast, the state spends just $115 million on anti-smoking programs, he said.
State Sen. Joe Dunn (D-Santa Ana) called the need for increased anti-smoking spending “debatable.”
He said the $115 million already being spent could be the “point of diminishing returns. If you spend another $100 million on anti-smoking programs, the reduction of smoking rates would be infinitesimal. We don’t have to match the spending of the tobacco industry dollar for dollar.”
Dunn said the settlement dollars proposed by Davis are “the icing on the cake” of the state’s already strong anti-tobacco program.
“California is leaps and bounds ahead of any other state in tobacco control,” he said.
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Tough on Tobacco
The American Lung Assn. praised California for enacting strong tobacco control laws. State actions specifically cited by the group include:
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2000: Became first state to require warning labels for cigars.
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1999: Raised excise tax on cigarettes from 37 cents to 87 cents per pack.
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1994: Banned smoking in nearly all enclosed workplaces.
Source: American Lung. Assn.
