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.

Republicans are using prevention to help frame their approach to health reform. The Senate Republican Conference and the Republican Policy Committee will hold a May 21 hearing on Capitol Hill to discuss "wellness and prevention through healthy behavior as a key to health care reform."

"This hearing will explore solutions that can help keep Americans healthier and truly bend the cost curve in the right direction," said a hearing announcement.

The wording of the witness list suggests the hearing will focus heavily upon the notion of personal responsibility.

It describes former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee as a person "whose efforts to improve his own health after being diagnosed with Type II diabetes have received national attention." There is no mention of the many state programs Huckabee actually put in place to help combat childhood obesity, like mandatory BMI measurements of every public school student and restrictions on junk food on school campuses.

Steve Burd, CEO of Safeway, Inc., is touted for his "consumer-driven health care program that could serve as a template for addressing the national health care crisis." "Consumer-driven" would appear to be an alternative to "government program."

In his forward to the 2002 "Call to Action" on obesity and overweight, Surgeon General David Satcher said: "Many people believe that dealing with overweight and obesity is a personal responsibility. To some degree they are right, but it is also a community responsibility." He went on to explain that personal responsibility can only exist in a community where healthy choices are readily available. Where there are no safe places to play or exercise, where healthy food choices are either scarce or unaffordable, and where environments are unhealthy, personal responsibility can have a hard time taking root.