Prevention Matters

As one of the most popular sports in the United States, baseball is a highly integral and influential part of American culture today. Unfortunately, tobacco companies thrive on Major League Baseball players, who are the most prominent spokesmen for smokeless tobacco. The very heroes that many people, especially young kids, look up to are conveying a dangerous message that promotes a behavior that leads to mouth diseases, cancers, and heart attacks.

Despite the sufferings of Babe Ruth and Tony Gwynn with cancer, MLB players, coaches, and managers continue to chew tobacco all season long. It doesn’t seem like a coincidence that smokeless tobacco use among high school boys has increased by 36% in the past seven years.

In a January article in the Washington Post, Washington Nationals superstar pitcher Stephen Strasberg recalls how he began using smokeless tobacco as a teenager to better emulate the ballplayers he idolized. Strasberg is attempting to quit tobacco and his goal was to be tobacco free by spring training. Not only is Strasberg quitting because of the many health risks associated with tobacco use, but he also doesn't want kids who want to be like him to see him chewing.

The Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids and nine supporting organizations are calling upon MLB and the Players Association to ban all tobacco use on the field and in the dugout in their upcoming contract negotiations. The contract to be signed will be in place for five seasons, so taking action now is crucial.

Tobacco use has already been banned in the minors, the NCAA and the National Hockey League. It is time that MLB does the same.

Join the Campaign’s efforts to Knock Tobacco Out of the Park by sending a message to Major League Baseball denouncing smokeless tobacco.


Harmeet Singh
Tobacco Control Team

Earlier this week leaders from six of the nation’s most respected public health organizations expressed concerns about a recommendation to “move the majority of all tobacco related research at the NIH into a proposed addiction institute…” In a letter to NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins, the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, LEGACY and Partnership for Prevention stressed that the proposed move “poses considerable risks to the ongoing efforts by the Department of Health and Human Services to reduce tobacco use.”

The November 2nd letter was sent in response to recommendations of the NIH’s Scientific Management Review Board which recommended the merger of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Historically, leadership on tobacco research has been championed by the National Cancer Institute and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. Additionally, neither NIAAA nor NIDA have a significant tobacco research portfolio. The proposed merger of NIAAA and NIDA did not specifically assess the scientific value of transferring the tobacco research portfolios that have driven much of the our nation’s successful policy work and cessation advances over the past thirty years. The letter notes that transfer of tobacco research from NCI and NHLBI to a new entity generally unfamiliar with tobacco science will “create uncertainly about future funding for tobacco-related research…(i)t would also convey the impression … that the NIH considers the tobacco problem solved or that it is now less important to NIH.”

These leaders make a thoughtful and compelling case that removal of tobacco research from the protection and guidance of NCI and NHLBI is premature. In the absence of carefully study, such a move potentially endangers the nation’s continued progress to reduce tobacco use and help the Food and Drug Administration develop and execute a research agenda that will support its life saving regulatory mandates. This issue could have a profoundly negative impact on the quality and relevance of the excellent tobacco work currently underway in NIH’s flagship institutes.

The letter urges Dr. Collins to “postpone any action to include tobacco-related research in the proposed new institute” and to “initiate a review of (NIH’s) current tobacco research portfolio and determine what additional research is necessary to fully support the Administration’s efforts to reduce tobacco use. Such a review would also help inform your decision about whether a reorganization of tobacco research is appropriate.”

There is an old wisdom ... “if it ain’t broke…don’t fix it.” Tobacco continues to represent the nation’s leading cause of premature death and preventable illness. We have made remarkable progress in the decades since Surgeon General Luther Terry alerted the nation to the adverse health effects of smoking. Now is not the time to endanger continued progress in the vital public health work that NCI and NHLBI led tobacco research has supported over the decades. Requesting a thorough study of this issue seems a reasonable course of action for Dr. Collins to endorse.

E Ripley Forbes
Director, Government Affairs

Yesterday, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation launched a new interactive map that provides the latest data on tobacco policies by state. Using information courtesy of the Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the map focuses on three different aspects of tobacco policy: 1) smoke-free laws; 2) cigarette tax rates; and 3) tobacco control spending. “Users will be able to see whether a state is ahead or behind the curve in protecting and promoting health,” says Michelle Larkin, J.D., M.S., R.N., leader of RWJF’s Public Health Team.

With its array of colors and pop-up menus, the map points out that Rhode Island and Connecticut have the highest tax rates in the U.S.--$3.46 and $3.00, respectively. The map also shows that North Dakota is the only state that spends 100% or more of state funding for tobacco control relative to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations.

Brandi Robinson
Program Associate, Partnership for Prevention

On Tuesday, Sept. 22, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will start enforcing a ban on candy, fruit and other flavored cigarettes, which is one of the first provisions of the new federal law allowing the FDA to regulate tobacco products. Mike Meyers over at Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids reports that some tobacco companies may already be preparing to try to circumvent the ban.

"For example, Kretek International Inc., which imports Djarum-brand tobacco products from Indonesia and is the nation’s top distributor of clove-flavored cigarettes, has introduced clove cigars that look and, according to news reports, taste like its clove cigarettes.," Meyers says.

Tobacco companies have a long history of using flavors to attract kids, and survey data show that youth smokers are much more likely to use these flavored products. In a recent letter to the industry, the FDA warned that it will take aggressive action against attempts to evade the new law, noting that the ban "applies to all tobacco products that meet the definition of a “cigarette” in section 900(3) of the Act even if they are not labeled as “cigarettes” or are labeled as cigars or as some other product."

UPDATE 9/22/09:

The FDA has launched a web site dedicated to flavored tobacco products. You can access a link to the FDA flavored tobacco web site at: www.fda.gov/TobaccoProducts/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/FlavoredTobacco/default.htm <http://www.fda.gov/TobaccoProducts/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/FlavoredTobacco/default.htm> or from the main FDA tobacco products web page at: www.fda.gov/tobaccoproducts <http://www.fda.gov/tobaccoproducts> .

A “transportation prescription” for health was named Partnership for Prevention's "Best Prevention Idea of the Week," while the ouster of a Florida public health doctor for criticizing doughnuts on his office sign 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

“Transportation Prescription” for Health Outlined
http://www.convergencepartnership.org/atf/cf/%7B245a9b44-6ded-4abd-a392-ae583809e350%7D/TRANSPORTATIONRX.PDF

The Convergence Partnership has commissioned a new report by PolicyLink and Prevention Institute entitled The Transportation Prescription: Bold New Ideas for Healthy, Equitable Transportation Reform in America. It's a guide to how healthy, equitable transportation policies can improve the quality of life for everyone, and in particular for vulnerable communities. The report presents a collection of policies and programs that can improve health and transportation in underserved communities while simultaneously creating economic opportunities.


WORST

Public Health Doctor “Dunked” over Anti-Doughnut Message
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/08/13/national/main5240179.shtml

Jason Newsom, a public health doctor in Bay County, Florida, was forced to step down after running messages on an electronic sign outside the health department where he worked that included messages such as “Donuts = Diabetes” and “America Dies on Dunkin.” With the backing of a county commissioner who owns a doughnut shop, two lawyers who own a new Dunkin' Donuts on Panama City Beach threatened to sue. Newsom’s bosses at the Florida Health Department made him remove the anti-fried dough rants and eventually forced him to resign. “I think he was somewhat of a zealot,” the county commissioner with the doughnut shop told the Associated Press.

This podcast features an interview with Danny McGoldrick, Vice President for Research at the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. His organization recently teamed up with Partnership for Prevention and the United Health Foundation to launch an initiative aimed at American businesses. At a time of deep economic decline, this team is working to show businesses some proven ways to improve their bottom lines – by adopting tobacco-free policies in the workplace and by supporting tobacco-free policies in their communities. Listen by clicking on the media player below.

A healthier workforce and a healthier community is smart business, because it makes for a healthier bottom line. That’s why Partnership for Prevention, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and United Health Foundation collaborated to develop a new resource to help businesses lower their costs by reducing the use of tobacco in the workplace.

The “toolkit,” entitled “Investing in A Tobacco-Free Future: How it Benefits Your Bottom Line & Community,” highlights the many gains from implementing tobacco control programs and policies. You can download the toolkit and get more information at www.prevent.org/tobaccofreefuture.

A multi-pronged approach is a win-win that works. Adopting a tobacco-free workplace policy not only improves the health of all workers exposed to secondhand smoke, but also cuts business expenses related to fire and property insurance costs. Providing health benefits that include access to services to help people quit their tobacco use is cost effective to implement and yields healthier employees who spend less on health care. Comprehensive tobacco-use treatment generally includes three components – screening by health professionals, counseling that can be in-person or via phone quitlines and pharmacy support that can include over-the-counter and prescription medication.

It’s also smart business to support proven state and local public policy solutions to drive down smoking rates and increase community well-being and health. Initiatives like smoke-free workplace laws, higher tobacco taxes and well-funded tobacco prevention and cessation programs are all effective strategies to save lives and reduce health care costs – a worthy goal for all.