Vermont Business Magazine The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) is celebrating the American Cancer Society’s 41st annual Great American Smokeout Thursday, November 17, a day when smokers are encouraged to put down all tobacco products and formulate a plan to quit tobacco for good, by calling on the legislature to protect the health of Vermont residents by increasing the sale age of tobacco to 21.
The dangers of smoking cannot be overstated. A recent study from the American Cancer Society found that smoking cigarettes contributed to more than one in four cancer deaths in the United States. The analysis also found that the impact of smoking varied considerably by state, reflecting the effectiveness of tobacco control policies and programs; for example, cigarettes contribute to 11 percent of cancer deaths among women in Utah but a staggering 40 percent of cancer deaths among men in Arkansas. In Vermont, 28 percent of cancer deaths are attributable to smoking, and data shows that smoking prevalence among Vermont college students is higher than the national average, despite the state's largest instution - the university of Vermont - being a smoke free campus.
“The Society’s Great American Smokeout is about helping people quit, however, we can come closer to a generation of Vermonters never picking up this deadly addiction in the first place if we increase the sale age of tobacco to 21,” said Jill Sudhoff-Guerin, director of government relations for ACS CAN in Vermont. According to the Institute of Medicine, raising the sale age of tobacco products to 21 could reduce the prevalence of smoking by 12 percent.
“The Great American Smokeout is a perfect opportunity to remind our lawmakers that each year the tobacco industry spends more than $80 million on marketing in our state to entice the next generation of smokers,” said Sudhoff-Guerin. “Big Tobacco knows that 95 percent of adult smokers begin smoking before they turn 21 – by increasing the tobacco sales age to 21, we can help prevent a generation of kids from having to try to quit smoking, because they will never have started.”
The American Cancer Society launched the Great American Smokeout over 40 years ago as a platform to encourage smokers to quit. Since then, the program has expanded to not only encourage smokers to make a plan to quit, but also to encourage all Americans to advocate for comprehensive smoke-free laws, increased tobacco excise taxes and increased funding for tobacco cessation programs.
ACS CAN works in partnership with state policymakers across the country to ensure that tobacco use is addressed through a comprehensive approach including 1) raising the price of tobacco products, 2) implementing comprehensive smoke-free policies and 3) fully funding and sustaining evidenced-based, statewide tobacco prevention and cessation programs.
The use of tobacco products remains the nation’s number one cause of preventable death, killing more than 480,000 Americans and costing $289 billion in health care costs and lost productivity annually. In Vermont, tobacco is responsible for 1,000 deaths each year and costs the state $348 million per year in direct health care costs. States with comprehensive tobacco control programs experience faster declines in cigarette sales, smoking prevalence and lung cancer incidence and mortality than states that do not invest in these programs.
ACS CAN, the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, supports evidence-based policy and legislative solutions designed to eliminate cancer as a major health problem. ACS CAN works to encourage elected officials and candidates to make cancer a top national priority. ACS CAN gives ordinary people extraordinary power to fight cancer with the training and tools they need to make their voices heard. For more information, visit www.acscan.org.
For additional quit tips and information about the effects of using tobacco, visit cancer.org/smokeout.
WILLISTON, Vermont - November 11, 2016 – American Cancer Society, Inc.