Prevention Matters

An Arkansas program that has produced nearly 100,000 fewer smokers over the last seven years was named Partnership for Prevention's "Best Prevention Idea of the Week," while the ethanol industry’s practice of adding antibiotics to their fermentation tanks was named “Worst Prevention Idea of the Week.”

The Best/Worst Idea awards are a regular feature of Prevention Matters , the blog of Partnership for Prevention. Each week, Partnership for Prevention's staff will choose the designees based on nominations of items in the previous week's news submitted by members, staff and the public at large. To submit a nomination or for more information, contact Damon Thompson at dthompson@prevent.org.


BEST

Arkansas Program Spurs Big Drop in Adult Smoking
http://www.areawidenews.com/story/1555203.html

New survey information shows there are nearly 100,000 fewer smokers in Arkansas since the beginning of the Arkansas Department of Health's (ADH) Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program in 2002. When the program started in 2002, 25.1 percent adults smoked in the state; more current data show that those numbers have decreased to approximately 20.7 percent. The Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program is funded through the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement. Through community and school prevention programs, a media and public relations campaign known as Stamp Out Smoking, a statewide quitline and cessation services for tobacco users looking to quit, TPCP continues to see the positive effects of its efforts.


WORST

Antibiotics Used in Ethanol Production
http://www.iatp.org/iatp/publications.cfm?accountID=258&refID=106420

Ethanol producers are adding antibiotics to the fermentation process to keep fermentation tanks free of bacteria, a practice that the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy says may be contributing to antibiotic resistance. The nutrient-rich residue from the fermentation tanks, a co-product of ethanol production, is being sold as livestock feed. Recent research has identified several strains of bacteria living in ethanol fermentation tanks that are resistant to penicillin and virginiamycin, the most commonly used antibiotics in ethanol production.