Prevention Matters

"Best and Worst News for Prevention” is based on a purposive sample consisting of expert staff members who each week choose to share their opinions on the best and worst news for prevention.

BEST

FDA Proposes Graphic Warnings on Cigarette Packs

A series of gruesome pictures depicting emaciated lung cancer patients, a dead body in a morgue, a baby confined to a respirator (presumably the result of secondhand smoke) and other consequences of smoking that will appear on the outside of cigarette packages will hopefully shock people into quitting the habit or not starting in the first place, U.S. officials announced Wednesday, November 10.


WORST

Florida researcher looks for answers to alarming suicide rate among soldiers


American soldiers are killing themselves at the highest rate since the U.S. Military started keeping records and the trend is getting worse.

Military leaders say they are desperate to take action on the problem so the federal government is awarding a $17 million grant to Florida State and the Denver Veterans Affairs Medical Center for a suicide prevention program.

FSU's Professor Thomas Joiner is an internationally renowned expert on suicide who will help lead the military's effort to prevent suicides.

Joiner says there's a new trend of suicide in the military. The suicide rate among soldiers used to be lower than the general population. Joiner says now it's higher at an average of 12.5 suicides per 100,000 soldiers.


The “Best and Worst” awards are announced each week in “Prevention Matters,” the blog of Partnership for Prevention. "Best and Worst News for Prevention” is based on a purposive sample of expert staff members who each week choose to share their opinions on the best and worst news for prevention. More information is available at http://www.prevent.org/.

Wow….New graphic cigarette health warnings … FDA wants to know what you think.

At a press conference this morning (November 10, 2010) Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius helped unveil a “comprehensive tobacco control strategy that includes proposed new bolder health warnings on cigarettes and advertisements. In 2009 President Obama signed into law the “Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act” (Public Law 111-31) which required that the Food and Drug Administration add “nine new larger and more noticeable textual warning statements and color graphic images depicting the negative health consequences of smoking.” The Notice of Proposed Rule Making includes 36 proposed images that are a remarkable and long overdue improvements over the warnings Congress required on cigarette packages and advertising ,back in 1984. The FDA is also conducting an extensive 18,000 person consumer test of the proposed graphic images to help identify the nine that will most effectively help current smokers quit and discourage potential new smokers from starting. The results of the FDA’s consumer research will also be released shortly and public comment will be solicited.

The current deadline for public comment on the proposed 36 images is January 9, 2011. The wording of the nine warnings was specified by the Congress when it enacted Public Law 111-31. These warnings include:

‘‘WARNING: Cigarettes are addictive."
‘‘WARNING: Tobacco smoke can harm your children."
‘‘WARNING: Cigarettes cause fatal lung disease."
‘‘WARNING: Cigarettes cause cancer."
‘‘WARNING: Cigarettes cause strokes and heart disease."
‘‘WARNING: Smoking during pregnancy can harm your baby."
‘‘WARNING: Smoking can kill you."
‘‘WARNING: Tobacco smoke causes fatal lung disease in nonsmokers."
‘‘WARNING: Quitting smoking now greatly reduces serious risks to your health."

The challenge for the FDA is to identify graphic images that best amplify the statutorily mandated wording of the cigarette warnings. Federal law also requires that the warnings and graphic images make up the top 50 percent of the front and back of cigarette packages.

FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said it best: “When the rule takes effect, the health consequences of smoking will be obvious every time someone picks up a pack of cigarettes. This is a concrete example of how FDA’s new responsibilities for tobacco product regulation can benefit the public’s health.

So….take a few minutes to check out the FDA’s proposed new labels.

If you have family and friends who smoke…show them the new labels… get their advice and then tell the FDA.

The FDA has given us all an opportunity to play an important role, individually and collectively, in fighting the nation’s leading cause of premature death and preventable illness. Stronger health warnings, especially if they are accompanied by the 1 800 QUIT NOW cessation number, can help more smokers get access to effective cessation medications and discourage thousands of young people from striking the first match of what can become a lifelong, life threatening addiction.

Lets get to work. Tell the FDA what you think.


E Ripley Forbes
Director, Government Affairs

"Best and Worst News for Prevention” is based on a purposive sample consisting of expert staff members who each week choose to share their opinions on the best and worst news for prevention.

BEST

Drinking Beet Juice Increases Blood Flow to Brain and May Fight Dementia

Drinking beet juice increases blood flow to the brain in older people, a finding that suggests the dark red vegetable may fight the progression of dementia, a new study shows.

Beet roots contain high concentrations of nitrates, which are converted into nitrites by bacteria in the mouth. And nitrites help open blood vessels in the body, increasing blood flow and oxygen to places lacking in oxygen.


WORST

Many Higher-Income Parents Forgoing Kids' Vaccinations: Report


Vaccination rates for children insured by commercial plans dropped almost four percentage points between 2008 and 2009, even though the rate of children on Medicaid getting vaccinated is rising.

"Rates had been gradually improving in the commercial plans. This was the first time we'd seen a drop -- and it was a pretty big drop," said Sarah Thomas, vice president of public policy and communication for the National Committee for Quality Assurance, which recently released its annual State of Health Care Quality report.


The “Best and Worst” awards are announced each week in “Prevention Matters,” the blog of Partnership for Prevention. "Best and Worst News for Prevention” is based on a purposive sample of expert staff members who each week choose to share their opinions on the best and worst news for prevention. More information is available at http://www.prevent.org/.

The Nevada ActionToQuit state summit was held in Reno on October 21, 2010. Led by the American Lung Association in Nevada, the summit brought together a diverse group of stakeholders to develop a state plan to reduce tobacco prevalence in Nevada by improving access to cessation treatments.

The summit opened with the State Health Officer as the keynote speaker to set the tone for the event. As noted by the keynote and other presenters, Nevada has a smoking prevalence rate of 21.5%. And of those smokers surveyed, 75% of them wish to quit. For every dollar Nevada spends on providing tobacco cessation treatments, it has an average potential return on investment of $1.31.

Panelists at the summit were all asked the following questions to help facilitate the formation of priority topics and inform the group strategic planning: 1) Please describe how your company or organization provides tobacco cessation services; 2) What impact has tobacco cessation had on your company, organization, or community?; 3) What are the barriers to people accessing tobacco cessation services?; 4) What other actions need to be taken to increase cessation in Nevada?; and 5) What do you think should be our priorities as we develop a statewide cessation plan for Nevada?

Following the presentations, participants at the summit prioritized areas and voted for the following workgroup topics: youth access, closing gaps in access, economic impact, educating officials, and expanding awareness of cessation. The 66 attendees choose which workgroup they wanted to participate in for the remainder of the afternoon and began to develop recommendations for the statewide plan, which will be available early in the new year.

The Nevada summit was a great first step to engage stakeholders in leading the way in increasing access to tobacco cessation treatment and ultimately decreasing tobacco use across the state.

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

In October, Partnership for Prevention sponsored Colorado’s ActionToQuit tobacco cessation summit in Denver. The event brought together organization, agencies, advocates, and leaders to discuss tobacco cessation policy strategies. The state-level summit was convened by the Colorado Tobacco Education and Prevention Alliance, which received a grant from Partnership for Prevention to develop a state action plan for tobacco cessation.

Colorado’s target audience is the 700,000 uninsured persons in the state, whose collective smoking rate is 32%, compared to 18% in the general population. At the summit, this new alliance of organizations learned about current tobacco cessation coverage gaps and shortly will create a comprehensive strategic plan for the state’s uninsured. Colorado has made great strides in smoke-free air, tobacco tax, and insurance coverage for privately insured and Medicaid populations – assisting the uninsured population is now the top priority to drive down smoking prevalence.

The uninsured in Colorado are similar to those nationwide – higher smoking rates, more in-home smoking, less access to treatment, and less success at quitting. Two thirds of the adult smokers in Colorado are in the lower socioeconomic strata. The touch points for the uninsured are emergency departments, federally qualified health clinics, and other safety net clinics, but cessation treatment is not likely to be offered through these channels, at present. Smoking related health costs for the state total $1.3 billion annually, including $300 million in Medicaid costs.

The Colorado team has held key informant interviews and roundtable meetings in addition to the state summit. The target groups involved are: 

• Medical providers/professionals serving the uninsured
• Mental health and substance abuse treatment providers and professionals
• Advocacy/policy organizations and funders serving the uninsured
• Cessation/addiction experts
• Media professionals with knowledge of reaching low income populations (focus on increasing utilization)
• Uninsured Coloradans
• Health plans
• Colorado health systems experts
• Workforce/employee/employer organizations serving/employing the uninsured

This ActionToQuit summit was an excellent first step toward the alliance’s goal of making Colorado the best state in the USA for tobacco cessation treatment.

"Best and Worst News for Prevention” is based on a purposive sample consisting of expert staff members who each week choose to share their opinions on the best and worst news for prevention.

BEST

Kids benefit from strength training a few times a week

While strength training was once doubted to benefit kids, a new research review confirms that children and teenagers can boost their muscle strength with regular workouts.

The findings, researchers say, support recent recommendations from the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) that kids strength-train two to three times a week -- though only under professional supervision. In years past, there were concerns that school-age children and teenagers might run a high risk of injuring themselves through strength training, which can be performed using free weights, exercise machines, elastic bands or the body's own resistance.


WORST

U.S. Preschoolers Getting Too Much Screen Time: Combined hours between home and day care often exceed recommended 2-hour daily limit


Two-thirds of preschoolers in the United States are exposed to more than the maximum two hours per day of screen time from television, computers, video games and DVDs recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics, a new study has found.

Researchers from Seattle Children's Research Institute and the University of Washington looked at the daily screen time of nearly 9,000 preschool-age children included in the national Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort, an observational study of more than 10,000 children born in 2001.


The “Best and Worst” awards are announced each week in “Prevention Matters,” the blog of Partnership for Prevention. "Best and Worst News for Prevention” is based on a purposive sample of expert staff members who each week choose to share their opinions on the best and worst news for prevention. More information is available at http://www.prevent.org/.