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:

• 2,200 Nebraska smokers die each year as a result of smoking
  
• 36,000 youth aged zero to 17 alive today will die from smoking in the future, and that
  
• 220 Nebraska non-smokers die each year from secondhand smoke.

The webinar is available by replay. To view the webinar, please register for the Tobacco's Toll on Nebraska webinar at the "Reducing Tobacco Use in Nebraska 101 Webinar Series" homepage.

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.

A $1.00 increase in Nebraska’s cigarette tax would prevent approximately 11,000 youth from smoking and, over five years, save an estimated $3.62 million in lung cancer, heart attack, and stroke costs. 

And keeping all workplaces, restaurants, and bars in Nebraska 100 percent smoke-free is the best way to continue protecting all 1,826,300 residents from the dangers of secondhand smoke.

That's according to two new tobacco reports from the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) released Wednesday. The reports measure the dramatic health and economic benefits of implementing strong tobacco control policies in the states. The results provide new evidence that comprehensive smoke-free laws and increased tobacco taxes have the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives and billions of dollars in health care costs.

According to the reports, jointly titled Saving Lives, Saving Money, if all states enacted comprehensive smoke-free laws and tobacco tax increases, over time they could reduce the number of smokers by 2.5 million, avert nearly 2 million deaths, and save nearly $2 billion in health care costs. 

The smoke-free report is the first of its kind to show the possible number of fewer people smoking, fewer deaths and savings in health care costs if states with weak or no smoke free laws were to enact comprehensive laws. 

The tobacco tax report compares data from every state to determine the potential lives saved, revenue raised and Medicaid dollars saved with a $1.00 cigarette tax increase over current levels.

“Tobacco is the only legal product that kills when used as directed, and it costs billions of dollars in health care spending,” said John R. Seffrin, PhD, chief executive officer of ACS CAN. “We now have concrete evidence that enacting comprehensive smoke-free laws and increasing state tobacco taxes can save millions of lives, prevent smokers from picking up the habit and save states significant dollars in health spending. Strong state tobacco control policies aren’t just a good idea in stemming the tide of the tobacco pandemic – they’re a necessity.”

Comprehensive smoke-free laws, which include all restaurants, bars and workplaces, reduce exposure to secondhand smoke, encourage people to quit or cut down on smoking, and prevent youth from starting to smoke. Data show they also reduce disease and health care spending, and improve employee productivity. Currently, 23 states and the District of Columbia have enacted comprehensive smoke-free laws. If the 27 states that do not have comprehensive smoke-free laws implemented them:

• More than 1 million adults would quit smoking.
• Nearly 400,000 youth would never start smoking.
• We could save more than 600,000 lives.
• State economies would also save nearly more than 1.3 billion in the costs to treat lung cancer, heart attacks, strokes, and pregnancy complications over five years.

Increasing cigarette excise taxes has been shown to reduce the number of current and potential smokers. Research shows that every 10 percent increase in the price of tobacco reduces youth smoking rates by 6.5 percent and overall cigarette consumption by 4 percent. 

Cigarette taxes are also a powerful economic tool, directly producing sustained increases in state revenues and resulting in large savings in health care costs. If every state nationwide increased its tobacco tax by $1.00:

• Nearly 1.4 million adults would quit smoking.
• Nearly 1.7 million youth would never start smoking.
• 1.3 million people could be saved from smoking-related deaths.
• State economies would raise $25.7 billion in tax revenue (a 54 percent increase over current revenue) and, over five years, save more than $645 million in health treatment costs.

Happy second birthday, Nebraska's smoke-free worksites law!

Two years ago today, Nebraska put in place a law that protects the air we breathe at indoor worksites throughout the state. And Nebraskans appreciate the effort.

Nebraska's smoke-free worksites law is doing what it was intended to do, and other states should follow suit, according to an editorial just published in the Dakota County Star.

A year ago, Eric Rosenberg, who enjoys visiting Kearney bars, told the Kearney Hub he’s grateful for the smoking ban, and that it’s helping him quit the habit.

“I smoke a lot less,” Rosenberg told the Hub. “When you’re trying to quit, and you’re in a bar, the urge to smoke isn’t there because there aren’t a lot of people blowing smoke in your face.”

A report issued by Tobacco Free Nebraska recognizing the impact of the first six months of the smoke-free air law found:

• Nebraskans overwhelmingly support the statewide smoke-free air law that protects non-smokers from secondhand smoke in public places including bars, restaurants and gaming establishments.
  
• Nebraskans believe it is important to have a law prohibiting smoking inside most public buildings, including restaurants and bars.
  
• Nebraskans overwhelmingly agree that restaurants and bars in the state are healthier for employees and customers as a result of the law.
  
• Nebraskans still frequent restaurants, bars, bowling alleys, bingo halls and keno establishments as much as they did before the smoke-free air law went into effect.

And now, two years into the implementation of the law, the evidence of the dangers of secondhand smoke and how smoke-free worksites laws protect health continues to pile in.

The Michigan Department of Community Health recently reported the results of a health study of 40 people working at bars in 12 Michigan counties, mlive.com reported yestereday.

The study found a significant drop in the levels of two chemical compounds that serve as markers of secondhand smoke exposure.

The bar employees reported better health, and that they were less likely to have allergy symptoms, wheezing, shortness of breath, phlegm, daytime cough and morning cough.

A study involving more than 6,400 youth has linked exposure to secondhand smoke to higher blood pressure in boys was just released in Denver, MedScape.com reported yesterday. 

Higher blood pressure early in life can be a forerunner of high blood pressure as an adult. High blood pressure has been linked to heart and kidney disease. In nonsmoking adults, studies have shown a link between secondhand smoke and increased blood pressure.

Nebraskans can be proud of the step it took to put in place a comprehensive smoke-free worksites law. We will benefit with better health for years to come.

Today is World No Tobacco Day, a day to recall how tobacco use hurts the people who use them or are exposed to them, and to look at what can be done to help people live healthier lives free of tobacco addiction.

According to the World Health Organization, tobacco takes a tremendous toll on human life. The tobacco epidemic kills nearly 6 million people each year, of whom more than 5 million are users and ex users, and more than 600 000 are nonsmokers exposed to second-hand smoke.

• After high blood pressure, tobacco use is the biggest contributor to the epidemic of noncommunicable diseases — such as heart attack, stroke, cancer and emphysema — which accounts for 63% of deaths
• Smokers are more susceptible to certain communicable diseases, such as tuberculosis and pneumonia
• No consumer product kills as many people and as needlessly as does tobacco. It killed 100 million people in the 20th century. Unless we act, it could kill up to 1 billion people in the 21st. All of these deaths will have been entirely preventable

What can be done in Nebraska to reduce tobacco use? A comprehensive strategy that includes reducing Nebraskans' exposure to secondhand smoke, price increases in tobacco products, and adequately funding a program to reduce tobacco use and help Nebraskans quit has been shown by research to be effective in reducing tobacco use.

The presentation above highlights what can be done to reduce tobacco use in Nebraska.