Tobacco.org

VIDEO: Secretary Sebelius talks Tobacco Cessation with iVillage  

HHS Secretary Sebelius sits down with iVillage Chief Correspondent, Kelly Wallace, to discuss Tobacco prevention, cessation and control. HHS is focused on giving users the tools to help them quit, and prevent kids and teens from ever starting to smoke.

Learn more at smokefree.gov.

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• VIDEO: President Obama: Congratulations to Everyone Taking Part in Today's Great American Smokeout  

Sadly, we've seen too many friends, families and communities suffer needlessly, and suffer tremendously, from tobacco-related death, disease and disability. We have a clear path to ending the tobacco epidemic and it is a battle we can - and must - win. The prosperity and health of our country depends on it.

Join me today at 12:45p ET as I talk with iVillage reporter, Kelly Wallace, for a live web chat about tobacco cessation and prevention. To watch live, go to iVillage.com or www.hhs.gov/live. You can submit a question in advance here, or ask a question live during the chat on iVillage's Twitter or Facebook page.

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Federal official to discuss New England tobacco policies  

The assistant secretary for health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is coming to New Hampshire this week to hold a town hall on tobacco.

Dr. Howard Koh will join the health commissioners from Maine and the other New England states Wednesday in Manchester to call on state and local leaders to strengthen policies aimed at getting tobacco users to quit.

They also will discuss the problem of second-hand smoke.

The group will hold a news conference before the New England Tobacco Town Hall.

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SEBELIUS: Protecting Our Nation’s Youth 

For many kids, their first cigarette leads to a lifetime of addiction, and for many, serious disease. With 20 percent of U.S. high school students smoking, keeping tobacco out of the hands of minors can have a huge impact on our nation's health now and in the future. That's why President Obama and his Administration are committed to doing all we can to stop kids from smoking.

We took an important step toward achieving that goal when the Food and Drug Administration issued more than 1,200 warning letters to retailers for selling tobacco to kids. The letters come after we conducted more than 27,500 inspections nationwide. Most retail store owners follow the law and don't sell cigarettes to kids, but we're reminding those who don't that they have a responsibility to follow the law and that there are serious consequences if they fail to do so.

You can search our database of inspection reports for tobacco retailers by name and location to see how your community checks out. . . .

We know our campaign against tobacco is a 'winnable battle'. It is a public health challenge where the strategies to address it are proven and in-hand. We have the science. Under President Obama, we have the leadership and commitment. And now, more than ever, we have the laws and policies that will allow us to protect the health of our nation's kids.

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HHS announces Text4Health task force recommendations and global partnership  

Since January 2010, and consistent with these recommendations, HHS has invested $5 million dollars to develop its eHealth/mHealth smoking cessation resources aimed at increasing quitting attempts among teens, young adults and adults. Today, HHS is pleased to launch several new initiatives that have been guided by the HHS Text4Health Task Force.

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) at the National Institutes of Health is launching the SmokeFreeTXT program, a mobile smoking cessation service specifically designed for teens and young adults across the United States. The service is an extension of the core smoking cessation website, www.smokefree.gov, which consistently achieves between 70,000 – 100,000 visits on a monthly basis. Teens and young adults in the U.S. can enroll in this program by visiting http://smokefree.gov/smokefreetxt/default.aspx.

“More than 70 percent of smokers want to quit, we are committed to providing evidence based information to smokers through emerging and innovative technology,” said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

NCI is also launching a library of smoking cessation messages which provide the foundation for an interactive text-based intervention for adult smokers called QuitNowTXT. The QuitNowTXT text messages offer tips, motivation, encouragement and facts based on information tailored to the user’s response and are available at http://smokefree.gov/hp.aspx. These mobile texting resources will be integrated into the department’s comprehensive tobacco control strategy to further address the burden of tobacco use across our nation.

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Partners | Million Hearts 

Million Hearts will promote innovations to identify people now at cardiac risk, ensure that they receive appropriate treatment, reduce the need for blood pressure and cholesterol treatment, promote healthy diet and physical activity, and support smoke-free environments to reduce current and future cardiac risk.

Through communication, clinical measurement, and reporting to tens of thousands of health care providers and thousands of health care facilities for outpatient care, Million Hearts will provide a necessary focus showing that the ABCS (Aspirin for people at risk, Blood pressure control, Cholesterol management, Smoking cessation) are a top priority. Million Hearts will support health IT, connection and adherence to care, and other health system innovations that improve delivery of the ABCS to people who need them.

Partners from across the public and private health sectors, including federal agencies; doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other health care professionals; private insurers; businesses; health advocacy groups; and community organizations, will support Million Hearts through a wide range of activities.

The following are some of the current public and private sector supports. Going forward, Million Hearts will be successful through the long-term implementation, ongoing coordination of efforts, and ability to achieve sustained community and clinical innovations.

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Million Hearts: Preventing Heart Attacks and Strokes  

Million Hearts is a national initiative to prevent 1 million heart attacks and strokes over the next five years. Heart disease and stroke are two of the leading causes of death in the United States. Million Hearts brings together communities, health systems, nonprofit organizations, federal agencies, and private-sector partners from across the country to fight heart disease and stroke.

* Learn more about the science of Million Hearts in CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report

* Check out Million Hearts in Circulation, [PDF-286K] a journal of the American Heart Association . . .

Get involved and share your commitment to help prevent 1 million heart attacks and strokes in the next five years.

In just a few minutes with My Life Check, you can learn the state of your heart and what you can do to live a better life.

The goal: Prevent 1 million heart attacks & strokes in the next five years

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New public-private sector initiative aims to prevent 1 million heart attacks and strokes in five years 

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), with several key initial partners, today launched Million Hearts, an initiative that aims to prevent 1 million heart attacks and strokes over the next five years. Currently, cardiovascular disease costs $444 billion every year in medical costs and lost productivity in Americans. Building on work already underway thanks to the Affordable Care Act, Million Hearts will help improve Americans’ health and increase productivity.

Million Hearts is focused on two goals:

Empowering Americans to make healthy choices such as preventing tobacco use and reducing sodium and trans fat consumption. This can reduce the number of people who need medical treatment such as blood pressure or cholesterol medications to prevent heart attacks and strokes.

Improving care for people who do need treatment by encouraging a targeted focus on the “ABCS” – Aspirin for people at risk, Blood pressure control, Cholesterol management and Smoking cessation – which address the major risk factors for cardiovascular disease and can help to prevent heart attacks and strokes.

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State Prevention Grants 

Alabama State Department Public Health

Activity Amount

CDC Tobacco Quitlines $105,155 . . .

Arizona

Arizona State Department Of Health Services

Activity Amount

CDC Tobacco Quitlines $118,909

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HHS awards $137 million to states to boost prevention and public health 

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today awarded up to $137 million, partly supported by the Affordable Care Act, to states to strengthen the public health infrastructure and provide jobs in core areas of public health. Awarded in nearly every state, the grants enhance state, tribal, local and territorial efforts to provide tobacco cessation services, strengthen public health laboratory and immunization services, prevent healthcare-associated infections, and provide comprehensive substance abuse prevention and treatment.

"More than ever, it is important to help states fight disease and protect public health," said Secretary Sebelius. "These awards are an important investment and will enable states and communities to help Americans quit smoking, get immunized and prevent disease and illness before they start."

The grants will fund key state and local public health programs supported through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Most of these grant dollars come from the Prevention and Public Health Fund created by the Affordable Care Act. Additional SAMHSA dollars supplement this investment.

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• HHS Adopts Tobacco-Free Facilities Policy, Protecting Employees and Setting Example for Government  

WASHINGTON, DC (July 1, 2011) -- The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has taken an important step to protect the health of all HHS employees and set a positive example for the rest of government by adopting a new policy declaring all HHS facilities and campuses to be tobacco-free, effective today. The new policy will protect HHS employees from harmful secondhand smoke and encourage smokers and other tobacco users to quit and protect their health. Secondhand smoke contains more than 7,000 chemicals, including at least 69 that cause cancer, and is a proven cause of lung cancer, heart disease and serious respiratory illnesses.

We applaud HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Assistant Secretary for Health Howard Koh, Assistant Secretary for Administration E.J. Holland, Jr., and other members of the Department for their strong leadership in the fight against tobacco

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BERWICK: Helping Parents Quit Smoking 

As a pediatrician, I’ve seen too many children whose health problems could have been avoided if they hadn’t been exposed to cigarette smoke. And when parents smoke, it’s especially dangerous to their children. . . .

It’s why the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) sent a letter to all state Medicaid directors today, reminding them that state Medicaid programs now must fully cover tobacco cessation services for pregnant women, as a result of the Affordable Care Act. In addition, CMS is making it easier for states to fund tobacco use treatment for all Medicaid beneficiaries by making funding available for quit-lines. . . .

The State Medicaid Director letter was issued in conjunction with National Prevention and Wellness Month, to bring attention to the power of prevention to improve health and quality of life for millions of Americans. It’s just one way we’re making access to preventive services easier.

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RE: New Medicaid Tobacco Cessation Services (PDF) 

This letter provides information that we hope will be helpful to States as they work to reduce tobacco utilization along with guidance on the implementation of section 4107 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Affordable Care Act), P.L. 111-148, which amended Title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act (the Act) to provide for Medicaid coverage of comprehensive tobacco cessation services for pregnant women, including both counseling and pharmacotherapy, without cost sharing. In its assessment of this provision, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that its savings from preventable health problems and costs would outweigh its costs, resulting in reduced costs for States and the Federal government. This provision was effective October 1, 2010. This letter also provides guidance on “tobacco telephone quitline” activities which may be provided to Medicaid beneficiaries as an allowable Medicaid administrative cost expenditure.

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Chemical Found in Foam Cups a Possible Carcinogen 

On Friday, experts at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services added styrene, along with five other chemicals -- captafol, cobalt-tungsten carbide (in powder or hard metal form), certain inhalable glass wool fibers, o-nitrotoluene and riddelliine -- to its list of 240 substances that are "reasonably anticipated" to be carcinogenic.

But before you toss those white plastic take-out containers, keep this in mind: the government report says that by far the greatest exposure to styrene comes from cigarette smoke. In fact, one study cited in the report estimates that exposure from smoking cigarettes was roughly 10 times that from all other sources, including indoor and outdoor air, drinking water, soil and food combined.

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WALSH: The Federal Government Declares Formaldehyde a Carcinogen 

The report comes at a sensitive time for the White House, which had just launched a blitz against unnecessary regulations that were holding back business. (That could be why the report was released late on a Friday afternoon — otherwise known as the graveyard shift for news.) But there's a difference between annoying red tape and rules made to defend public health, and the federal government deserves kudos for allowing policy to finally catch up to science.

Industry, of course, will argue the opposite — that in this case politics has trumped science. They're not entirely wrong — because science, especially at the frontier, is inherently uncertain, every risk assessment is driven by politics as well as data. But when you hear industry complain that a regulatory decision was "unscientific," be on your guard. What they usually mean is that it went against their interests. We only have to look to the history of the tobacco industry to see the way that business can use science as a shield, a way to raise doubt and delay regulatory action — sometimes, at the cost of human life.

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