Pa. receives failing grades for tobacco prevention
The American Lung Association reports that alternative tobacco products, such as the candy-flavored cigars (purple tube) and dissolvable tobacco lozenges (green packaging) pictured, have surged in popularity thanks in part to their cheaper prices. The state does not currently have an excise tax on tobacco products other than cigarettes. Also pictured are a pair of pen-shaped e-cigarettes and an e-hookah with a USB charger, as well as hand gel and water that contain nicotine.
Lee Rutledge-Falcione, executive director of Washington County Health Partners, holds two pen-shaped e-cigarettes.
If a student brought home grades resembling those given to Pennsylvania by the American Lung Association for tobacco control, it isn’t likely mom and pop would be too pleased.
Pennsylvania received failing marks for its funding of tobacco prevention and control programs and its cessation coverage as the state “fell short in adequately funding programs to protect children and curb tobacco-related disease in 2012,” according to the ALA’s State of Tobacco Control 2013 report released Wednesday. The association also gave the state a pair of Cs on smoke-free air and cigarette taxes.
“Pennsylvania must make it a priority to invest in programs that keep kids off tobacco and to help smokers quit,” said Deb Brown, president and chief executive officer of the ALA of the Mid-Atlantic. “That starts with increasing Pennsylvania’s current level of tobacco prevention and cessation funding.”
The association reports that the state spent just 11 percent of what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends to fund tobacco prevention and cessation programs despite receiving $1.4 billion in tobacco-related revenue annually.
For 2013, Gov. Tom Corbett has designated $14.2 million for tobacco control and the federal government is expected to pitch in $2.9 million. While this is an uptick from the $13.9 million spent by the state last year, the association points out it’s a fraction of the $155.5 million recommended by the CDC.
“Funding is always an issue,” said Lee Rutledge-Falcione, executive director of Washington County Health Partners. “We’re way below what the CDC would recommend to have an effective, comprehensive program.”
The report claims that Pennsylvania is leaving approximately $100 million in annual revenue on the table by being the only state without an excise tax on tobacco products other than cigarettes. A pack of 20 cigarettes is currently taxed at $1.60. However, cigars, snuff and an array of other products are not subject to the excise tax.
The ALA claims these cheaper prices are one reason new products such as candy-flavored cigars and dissolvable tobacco have risen in popularity.
Rutledge-Falcione said young people in particular are attracted to these user-friendly, colorful and candy-scented products. She said tobacco companies have spent more than a half-billion dollars annually to market products in Pennsylvania.
“Tobacco companies are manipulating you. They don’t view a wonderful teenage person full of life and vibrancy,” Rutledge-Falcione said. “They view you is as a potential customer and they know they have to replace they ones that are dying off.”
She also cautioned against other products that are marketed as a safer alternatives to smoking – such as e-cigarettes, gels and even nicotine-infused water – but have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.
According to an ALA news release, tobacco causes an estimated 20,025 deaths annually in Pennsylvania alone while costing the state’s economy $9.4 billion in health care costs and lost productivity.
Rutledge-Falcione said research shows that raising the price for tobacco products through excise taxes entices more smokers to quit and fewer young people to start.
While the ALA works to convince the Corbett administration to break from the no-new-tax pledge the governor signed prior to his election, the association said it will also focus on closing loopholes in the clean indoor air laws.
Rutledge-Falcione said it makes fiscal sense for the state to ban indoor smoking across the board because it would alleviate the enforcement and compliance issues as well as the bureaucratic exemption process that bars and restaurants are currently subject to.