Reducing Tobacco Use in Nebraska 101 Webinar Series Starts with Tobacco's Toll on Nebraska 12/19/2011
Nebraskans interested in reducing tobacco use in Nebraska gained a deeper understanding of the toll of tobacco in Nebraska from a state and national expert on a webinar earlier this month. Presenters on this webinar shared the toll that tobacco takes on Nebraska both in human and financial terms. Presenters Brenda Richards, Program Consultant, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Office on Smoking and Health and Jeff Soukup, Program Manager, Tobacco Free Nebraska, Nebraska DHHS, shared the tremendous toll that tobacco takes on Nebraska. They shared that each year:
Three other webinars are planned in the series, and registration is open for each of these webinars. "A Program to Prevent Tobacco Use in Nebraska," with presenters Monica Eischen, CDC OSH Program Services Branch, Team Lead Program Consultant, and Judy Martin, Program Manager, Tobacco Free Nebraska, Nebraska DHHS, will take place at 10 a.m. CT/9 a.m. MT Tuesday, December 20, 2011. Presenters on this webinar will explore what programs to reduce tobacco use do, what the evidence is for their ability to reduce tobacco use and what's being done in Nebraska to reduce smoking and other tobacco use. The "History of the Master Tobacco Settlement and Tobacco Prevention Spending in Nebraska," with presenters Madeleine Solomon, Tobacco Technical Assistance Consortium, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, and Rich Lombardi, American Communications Group, Lincoln, Nebraska, will take place 10 a.m. CT/9 a.m. MT Tuesday, January 31, 2012. Presenters on this webinar will explore the history of the national Master Tobacco Settlement, as well as the history of how the money Nebraska receives as part of that settlement has been spent, especially regarding reducing tobacco use. "The Price of Tobacco Products and Consumption," with presenter Dr. Frank Chaloupka, Distinguished Professor of Economics & Public Health, and Director, Health Policy Center of the University of Illinois at Chicago will take place 10 a.m. CT/ 9 a.m. MT Tuesday, February 28, 2012. Dr. Chaloupka will explore the relationship between the price of tobacco products and smoking and tobacco use rates, sharing national research and Nebraska statistics.To register for each of the webinars, visit the "Reducing Tobacco Use in Nebraska 101 Webinar Series," homepage.  Father’s Day is a day to celebrate dads for who they are and all of the wonderful things they do. It is also a great time for dads to remember the important role they play in influencing the choices their kids make regarding tobacco use. Unfortunately, tobacco use among men remains a serious problem: one in five men currently smoke, more than 269,600 men die every year from smoking, and 216,000 kids have already lost their dad to smoking. Smoking takes a tremendous toll on Nebraska men and their families, according to the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids. In Nebraska, 18.5 percent of men smoke. That means 122,100 Nebraska men smoke. In fact:
What can dads do to protect their kids from the harms of smoking and tobacco use? The Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids has put together this sheet of tips for dads (see below) on how to celebrate a smoke-free father's day. To learn about how Nebraska can reduce tobacco use and help Nebraskans quit smoking, sign up now to get email updates from Health Education Inc.  Nebraska Senator Calls Proposal to Increase Cigarette Tax Excessive A proposal to raise the state's cigarette tax from 64 cents per pack to $1.99 per pack would be a "massive tax increase in new state revenue," according to Sen. Norm Wallman of Cortland. The proposed increase, he said, is excessive. In a column published in the Beatrice Daily Sun, Sen. Wallman said he doesn't "think smokers should bear an unfair burden for our state shortfall." LB436 would increase the tax on cigarettes from 64 cents per pack to $1.99 per pack, and would increase the tax on other tobacco products from 20 percent of wholesale to 65 percent of wholesale. Earlier this month, the Revenue Committee considered raising the cigarette tax from 64 cents per pack to $1.28 per pack. A motion to advance that proposal from the Legislature’s Revenue Committee failed to get a second. The bill remains in Revenue Committee. New Report: Nebraska One of Half of States with Smoke-Free Worksites Law Nearly half of U.S. residents are covered by state or local indoor smoke-free worksites laws, according to a CDC report issued this week. Another ten states have laws that require smoke-free workplaces in bars or restaurants, or non-hospitality workplaces, the Omaha World Herald reported. Tobacco smoke is a cause of lung cancer, heart disease and other maladies, according to the article. New Study Details Smoking Rates in Dakota and Thurston Counties According to a newly released study, 23 percent of adult residents of Dakota County and 34 percent of adult Thurston County residents smoke. Smoking was one of a number of health factors that were examined in a report that placed Dakota County as 74th of 75 ranked counties for health in Nebraska, as reported by the Dakota County Star. In Nebraska, 20 percent of adults smoke, placing the smoking rate for Dakota and Thurston counties above the state average. The County Health Rankings examined behaviors including smoking, adult obesity, excessive drinking and deaths in motor vehicle crashes, providing county-by-county health comparisons throughout the United States. Nebraska is among half of the United States that has a law in place protecting residents from secondhand smoke, according to a new study. The study, published in this week's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, lists the smoke-free status of every state and the District of Columbia. The report lists states with comprehensive smoke-free laws and years they went into effect. According to the report, 26 states including Nebraska have comprehensive smoke-free air laws. Since Nebraska's smoke-free worksites law went into place June 1, 2009, The 2010 Surgeon General's report makes clear that there is no safe level of exposure to tobacco smoke—including secondhand smoke—and that any exposure can lead to immediate damage to the body's organs and DNA."Eliminating smoking from worksites, restaurants and bars is a low-cost, high-impact strategy that will protect nonsmokers and allow them to live healthier, longer, more productive lives while lowering health care costs associated with secondhand smoke," said CDC director Thomas R. Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. "While there has been a lot of progress over the past decade, far too many Americans continue to be exposed to secondhand smoke at their workplaces, increasing their risk of cancer and heart attacks." Despite increased adoption of state and local smoke-free laws, approximately 88 million nonsmoking Americans aged three and older are still exposed to secondhand smoke each year. More than half of children three or older are exposed to secondhand smoke. "Secondhand smoke is responsible for 46,000 heart disease deaths and 3,400 lung cancer deaths among nonsmokers each year," said Ursula Bauer, Ph.D., M.P.H., director of CDC's National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. "Completely prohibiting smoking in all public places and workplaces is the only way to fully protect nonsmokers from secondhand smoke exposure." The full report provides a list of states and the types of smoke-free laws in each. Additional information on secondhand smoke exposure and smoke-free laws is available by accessing CDC's State Tobacco Activities Tracking and Evaluation System. Seward County ranked healthiest in Nebraska for health factors that include tobacco use. That’s according to a report released Wednesday by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The report, County Health Rankings, ranked 75 of Nebraska’s 93 counties. Of those counties that were ranked, Thurston County ranked 75 for health factors that include tobacco use. Using this new tool, Nebraskans may compare health outcomes and health factors on a county-by-county basis. Nebraskans may also compare their performance on specific health factors against national benchmarks of top-performing counties. More than 3,000 counties nationwide and the District of Columbia are ranked. The report, County Health Rankings, ranks the health of nearly every county in the nation. The report shows that much of what affects health occurs outside of the doctor’s office. The County Health Rankings confirms the critical role that factors such as education, jobs, income, and environment play in how healthy people are and how long they live. The Rankings help counties understand what influences how healthy residents are and how long they will live. The Rankings look at a variety of measures that affect health such as the rate of people dying before age 75, high school graduation rates, access to healthier foods, air pollution levels, income, and rates of smoking, obesity and teen births. The Rankings, based on the latest data available for each county, is the only tool of its kind that measures the overall health of each county in all 50 states on the multiple factors that influence health. It includes snapshots of nearly every county with a color-coded map that compares each county’s overall health with other counties in each of the 50 states. Using this interactive tool, Nebraskans can compare how their county is doing in areas like diabetes screening rates or number of uninsured adults to national benchmarks. Each county’s rank reveals a pattern of strengths and weaknesses. And, the Rankings reveal that all counties have areas where they can improve, even those that are the healthiest. Some highlights of what counties look like nationally:
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Health Education Inc.For more than 30 years, Health Education Inc. has worked toward promoting the health of Nebraskans. That work includes efforts to protect smoke-free air and to secure funding for tobacco control programs. CategoriesAll ArchivesDecember 2011      |
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