A new report shows funding to programs to reduce tobacco use nationwide were cut by 12 percent in the past year. The report from the Coalition of Public Health Organizations says 36 percent of the funding has been cut in the last four years.

Nebraska's program was cut from $2.9 million for fiscal year 2011 to $2.4 million for fiscal year 2012, according to the report.

The report, "A Broken Promise to Our Children: The 1998 State Tobacco Settlement 13 Years Later,” was released this week by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, American Heart Association, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Lung Association, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights.

The Nebraska Radio Network reports:

Peggy Huppert, spokeswoman for the American Cancer Society, says the foe they’re all fighting hasn’t cut its spending.

She says the tobacco industry continues spending “tens of millions of dollars” aggressively marketing its product.

And from WOWT:

“The nation's progress in reducing tobacco use is definitely at a risk, so anytime that we can partner within either our coalitions locally or outside partners, that's always a benefit,” said PRIDE-Omaha’s Mary Crosby.

The Appropriations Committee and the Health and Human Services Committee of the Legislature spent Tuesday morning hearing testimony about the Health Care Cash Fund.

Senators are evaluating the sustainability of fund and programs that are funded with money from the fund. The fund receives funds from the Nebraska Tobacco Settlement Trust Fund and the Nebraska Intergovernmental Transfer Trust Fund.

The purpose of today's hearing was to address:

1. The outcome and priority of funding in fulfilling the purpose of the Nebraska Health Care Funding Act stated in section 71-7606, which is to provide for the use of dedicated revenue for health-care-related expenditures, including compliance with the requirement that any funds appropriated or distributed under the act shall not be considered ongoing entitlements or obligations on the part of the State of Nebraska and shall not be used to replace existing funding for existing programs;
2. Statutory language identifying the tobacco settlement fund and intergovernmental transfer fund as trust funds notwithstanding that neither is a trust fund. Trust funds are assets held in trust, the use of which is governed by the conditions of the trust. Neither the tobacco settlement fund nor the intergovernmental transfer fund is governed by the conditions of a trust, and the use of both funds is strictly the prerogative of the Legislature; and
3. Whether sustainability should be the policy governing allocations from the Nebraska Health Care Cash Fund. The latest report by the Nebraska Investment Council filed on September 22, 2010, indicates, based on current appropriations, that outflows will exceed inflows in every year in the next decade. Some projections estimate the fund will be depleted by 2037 or 2038. Hewitt, Ennis, Knupp, a consultant contracted by the Nebraska Investment Council, reported in March 2011 that if the current level of annual commitments is not reduced, "spending levels of high and very high will likely result in declining portfolio, under the current aggressive asset allocation. If spending can be kept low, portfolio will likely grow."
   

LB 692 passed in the 2001 Legislative Session provided the current policy framework for the use of the Nebraska Health Care Cash Fund and established the tobacco settlement and intergovernmental transfer funds as the two sources of revenue for the ·fund. The intent of LB 692 was to use the funds for health-related purposes.

Section 71-7606 states the purpose of the Nebraska Health Care Cash Fund:

1. The purpose of the Nebraska Health Care Funding Act is to provide for the use of dedicated revenue for health-care-related expenditures.
   
2. 
   
3. Any funds appropriated or distributed under the act shall not be considered ongoing entitlements or obligations on the part of the State of Nebraska and shall not be used to replace existing funding for existing programs.
   
4. 
   
5. No funds appropriated or distributed under the act shall be used for abortion, abortion counseling, referral for abortion, or research or activity of any kind involving the use of human fetal tissue obtained in connection with the performance of an induced abortion or involving the use of human embryonic stem cells or for the purpose of obtaining other funding for such use.
   
6. 
   
7. The Department of Health and Human Services shall report annually to the Legislature and the Governor regarding the use of funds appropriated under the act and the outcomes achieved from such use. 
   

The fund supports a number of programs, including medicaid smoking cessation and tobacco prevention and control.

"Nearly all indoor public places in Nebraska are smoke-free. But some high school students are asking local authorities to take those non-smoking restrictions one step further."

That's according to 10/11 News.

"Grand Island Senior High senior Reyna Raymundo says she doesn't think it's fair to have community members affected by other peoples' decision to smoke cigarettes in outdoor public areas.

"Raymundo and other high school board members of No Limits, Nebraska's youth-led tobacco prevention movement are hoping to extinguish what they see as a big problem for local teens.

"'Everyone deserves a free environment, to have both inside and outside, non-smoking, because there is no safe way to have second hand smoke,' Raymundo says."

The students approached Central City, which has already implemented the students' idea to create smoke-free parks.

"They had some suggestions that they thought would be good in a policy and we took those suggestions, kind of molded them to our needs and together I think we put together a nice policy that everybody agrees will be effective in our parks," Anderson says.

Tobacco Free Youth Recreation of Minnesota lists a number of reasons for parks to be smokefree. They include:

• Parks are established to promote healthy activities. The purpose of park areas is to promote community wellness, and tobacco-free policies fit with this idea.
• Secondhand smoke harms everyone. Secondhand smoke is a human carcinogen for which there is no safe level of exposure. Exposure to secondhand smoke has immediate health consequences such as asthma attacks and other respiratory diseases.
• Secondhand smoke is harmful in outdoor settings. According to Repace Associates, secondhand smoke levels in outdoor public places can reach levels as high as those found in indoor facilities where smoking is permitted.
• Cigarette litter is dangerous. Discarded cigarettes pollute the land and water and may be ingested by toddlers, pets, birds or fish.
• Tobacco-free policies help change community norms. Tobacco-free policies establish the community norm that tobacco use is not an acceptable behavior for young people or adults within the entire community.
• Policies provide consistency among community athletic facilities and groups. The majority of community sporting events are held at either city or school district athletic facilities, and nearly all school districts prohibit tobacco use on their entire grounds. Also, many community athletic associations have policies but use city recreation facilities and would benefit from a city-wide policy.
• Policies reduce litter and maintenance costs.
• Tobacco-free environments promote positive community role modeling and protect the health, safety, and welfare of community members.
• Tobacco-free policies help break the connection between tobacco and sports.  For years the tobacco industry has sponsored sporting events and advertised at recreational events, misguiding young people’s perception of tobacco use.  Research indicates that sporting events expose youth to extensive tobacco use by people they view as positive role models.

Nine Doniphan-Trumbull students were honored Thursday morning for their winning entries in the anti-smoking poster contest with the theme "If You Smoke, We All Smoke!"

The contest, sponsored by Tobacco Free Hall County, recognized students for their efforts at the American Cancer Society's annual Great American SmokeOut event, as reported by the Grand Island Independent.

Sandy Yager, project assistant for Tobacco Free Hall County, said 239 students in Hall County submitted drawings for the contest — more submissions than the past two years combined.

The contest is part of Tobacco Free Hall County's larger effort to reduce tobacco use in the community, according to Tim Zeleski, project coordinator for the coalition.

The best anti-smoking strategy is to keep people from ever taking up smoking in the first place, Zeleski said. He said 450,000 people die each year as a result of smoking, so tobacco companies target young people to replace those lost customers.

However, Zeleski told the poster winners that the battle is not yet won. He said many people will still be exposed to secondhand smoke if they live in multi-unit residential buildings. Zeleski said a fourplex, for example, will often have a central heating system and central air conditioning. As a result, if a person smokes in one of the units, everyone in the other three units will be exposed.

Parks and trails in Lincoln could become smoke-free if a current effort moves forward. KLKN TV reports:

The main concern from parents has been about kids breathing in second-hand smoke while at the park. Some say banning it is a good idea, while others disagree. Either way, smoke is still present at public parks, even where our children play. "We totally either have to leave or get to the opposite end of the park. You still smell it if the breeze is coming in that direction. It stinks," said Lincoln resident, Becky Borrell.

Public buildings have been off limit to smokers since 2005, and according to the Health Department officials, since that ban went into effect they have seen an increase in requests that would expand the ban to parks, trails and playgrounds. The main concern is second-hand smoke.

Who knows better the harms of smoking than a cardiologist?

Nebraska Heart Institute Cardiologist Dr. Douglas Netz has seen the harm that smoking does and encourages people to quit smoking.

"Coronary artery disease which is the number one killer in the United States and stroke which is the number 3 killer are directly related to smoking in a lot of patients," Dr. Netz told 10/11 news.

Dr. Netz said 70 percent of people who smoke want to quit and 30% do not want to quit.

Coverage of smoking-related fires continues. The Nebraska Radio Network reported that Omaha fire crews battled another apartment fire last Tuesday. Several units at an apartment complex near West Center Road in Omaha were evacuated and there were no injuries. The cause of the fire was a carelessly discarded cigarette, NRN reported. 

This is the ninth fire in Omaha since October 6th caused by improperly disposed smoking material. 

A smoking-related fire was touched off in LaVista in late September. After three smoking-related fires in La Vista and Ralston in six months earlier this year, firefighters in Ralston and La Vista voiced concern about smoking-related fires happening in Nebraska this year. Firefighters in Lincoln and Kearney also have urged caution in disposing of smoking-related materials after fires there this year. In the first five months of 2011, six Kearney families have lost their homes because of carelessness with smoking materials, according to the Kearney Hub. In 2010, four Kearney residents were displaced for the same reason. And in a July Papillion house fire started by a discarded cigarette, firefighter Clayton Kulhanek broke both his ankles and firefighter Ryan Twohig lost a big toe.

Properly putting cigarettes out is always important. This ongoing rash of cigarette-related fires in the state raises two important questions for Nebraskans.

First: Why are we having continuing problems with cigarettes extinguishing? On January 1, 2010, a law went into place in Nebraska requiring that cigarettes sold in Nebraska be "fire safe cigarettes."Fire safe cigarettes are designed to extinguish more quickly than standard cigarettes, if ignored. The intention is to prevent accidental fires. Are cigarettes being sold in Nebraska meeting this standard? Are fire-safe cigarettes effective in reducing fires in the ways that these cigarettes being extinguished?

The second important issue raised by these fires is regarding policy in multi-unit apartments, where many of these fires have occurred. Where there is no smoke, there is no fire. Is it time for more multi-unit apartments to go smoke-free? Smoke-free apartments mean a healthier breathing environment for tenants, and their implementation prevents smoking-related fires.

Thankfully in these fires, no Nebraskan has lost a life. Preventing injuries, people being displaced from homes, financial loss and providing a healthier environment for Nebraskans means looking carefully at the issues raised by these fires.

Smoking and using tobacco products might be prohibited in Buffalo County vehicles and equipment next year, if a policy being considered by the Buffalo County Supervisors is put in place.

Smokers and non-smokers trading vehicles has been an issue in the sheriff's department for years, the Kearney Hub reported.

A new policy would not be implemented until next July.

"Careless Smoking Blamed for 5 Fires Since September," the headline reads.

Yet another fire has been triggered by the improper disposal of cigarettes. The latest fire was at an apartment complex in Omaha, according to KETV.com.  These cigarette-related fires have been mounting across the state this year.

In the latest fire, twenty people were forced from their homes after a cigarette reignited on a second-story balcony.

A smoking-related fire was touched off in LaVista in late September. After three smoking-related fires in La Vista and Ralston in six months earlier this year, firefighters in Ralston and La Vista voiced concern about smoking-related fires happening in Nebraska this year. Firefighters in Lincoln and Kearney also have urged caution in disposing of smoking-related materials after fires there this year. In the first five months of 2011, six Kearney families have lost their homes because of carelessness with smoking materials, according to the Kearney Hub. In 2010, four Kearney residents were displaced for the same reason. And in a July Papillion house fire started by a discarded cigarette, firefighter Clayton Kulhanek broke both his ankles and firefighter Ryan Twohig lost a big toe.