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Dr. Benjamin Chu, president of the Southern California Region of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals, has been appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors of the American Legacy Foundation, the national, independent public health foundation dedicated to building a world where young people reject tobacco and anyone can quit. Dr. Chu is one of the three medical doctors who serve on the 11-member American Legacy Foundation Board.
Dr. Chu takes over the foundation leadership at a pivotal point in time for the public health foundation, which is devoted to preventing our nation's youth from starting to smoke and helping Americans quit smoking. The foundation is facing a decrease in funding, having received its last major payment resulting from the Master Settlement Agreement in 2003.
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Today, the California Governor's office announced that anti-smoking public service announcements (PSAs) developed by the state will be included in youth-rated DVD movies from several major Hollywood studios. The American Legacy Foundation(R), a national public health foundation dedicated to reducing tobacco use in the U.S., applauds the state of California for joining in the nationwide effort to educate youth on the dangers of tobacco use. Moreover, as young people continue to be exposed to tobacco images on screen and on television, the effort to reach them in this way is critical.
More than half of youth-rated movies contain smoking, and research shows these images can influence 200,000 new youth smokers a year. As a result, the foundation and a host of national health organizations - including the American Heart Association, American Medical Association, American Lung Association and more - have long supported including anti-smoking PSAs before movies with smoking, along with other smoke-free movies policies.
The foundation is delighted that the California Department of Health, a well-respected leader in state tobacco control has joined this important life-saving initiative. Over
ongs from the current truth® advertising campaign will be getting a new twist this summer when nine innovative and well-known DJs and bands put new spins on the songs by re-mixing them in styles from house and hip-hop to electro. As part of the truth® "ReMix" project, DJs and bands such as Cobra Starship, Diplo, Kaskade, Mix Master Mike and more will re-mix songs from the "Sunny Side of truth®" - the current advertising campaign from the nation's largest youth smoking prevention campaign. The ReMix music tracks will then be packaged as a special CD compilation and available for download online as part of a comprehensive effort to reach more of the teen audience through technology and alternative media & entertainment outlets already popular with teens.
Just because cigarette sales have been steadily falling in recent years doesn't mean the tobacco industry is going up in smoke.
On the contrary, sales of other tobacco products, such as snuff, snus, roll-your-owns and especially cigars are on the rise, according to a new Harvard University study.
"FTC Test method."
The American Legacy Foundation(R) commends the FTC for its proposal to prohibit tobacco companies from claiming it endorses the thoroughly discredited "Cambridge Testing Method" for determining tar and nicotine content in cigarettes.
The tobacco companies have used the test and the claim of FTC endorsement to successfully market and sell so-called "light" and "low-tar" cigarettes to millions of smokers under the pretense that they are less dangerous, when in fact, they have known for years that these products are no safer than traditional cigarettes.
The fraudulent marketing of light cigarettes was one of the key elements of the U.S. District Court's decision that the tobacco companies had violated federal racketeering laws. . . .
Due to the seriousness of the problem, we urge the next step to be taken and the use of light and low tar and similar descriptors be prohibited altogether.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today included a report, Cigarette Use among High School Students -- United States-2007, in its weekly Morbidity and Mortality Weekly report.
The American Legacy Foundation, the national public health foundation devoted to keeping young people from smoking and helping all smokers quit, is encouraged by some of the report's findings. It is positive progress that youth smokers who had ever tried smoking in their lifetimes declined from 70.1 percent in 1999 to 50.3 percent in 2007, after a stable period from 1991-1999. This suggests that smoking may be becoming increasingly de-normalized in our culture; with fewer young people seeing smoking as mainstream or a rite of passage. In addition, the prevalence of current frequent youth smokers (those who have smoked more than 20 cigarettes in the preceding 30 days), declined, although this decline was not significant from 2006-2007. In that group, prevalence rose from 12.7 percent in 1991 to 16.8 percent in 1999, but dropped to only 8.1 percent in 2007.
However, the more troubling data in the report found that the prevalence of current cigarette use among high school students remained virtually unchanged from 2003 to 2007. This
A Franklin County judge yesterday slightly loosened the noose he's tied around Ohio's tobacco prevention funds, allowing $10 million to be siphoned off to continue some smoking cessation programs while a legal fight over the money continues.
The agreement was struck between the Ohio Department of Health and the American Legacy Foundation. The Washington-based foundation has sued the state to claim $190 million that the state's anti-smoking foundation promised it just before Gov. Ted Strickland and lawmakers put it out of business in April.
Judge David Fais of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas today signed an order allowing $10 million of the frozen funds previously earmarked for tobacco prevention and cessation services in the state to continue being spent throughout 2008 and 2009.
This order comes as a result of a joint motion filed by the American Legacy Foundation and the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) as well as the other state defendants, asking that the funds be freed up to maintain basic tobacco control programs in Ohio. Four million dollars would be spent to satisfy obligations incurred through June 30 and $6 million would be spent for tobacco control in the fiscal year beginning on July 1.
"ODH's decision to seek permission to spend these funds is a step in the right direction, as the agency recognizes the critical need for continued funding of these life-saving services," said Dr. Cheryl Healton, president and CEO of the American Legacy Foundation. "If we prevail in our legal claims, we will assure that far more funds are spent on life-saving tobacco control programs in Ohio."
Eleven students from across the country were selected to the Youth Activism Council (YAC) of the American Legacy Foundation®, the largest national public health foundation dedicated to preventing teens from smoking and providing resources to smokers who want to quit. Chosen from a competitive field of nominees, the new members will help Legacy continue to creatively and effectively convey the health risks of using tobacco products to young people, as well as help provide training and resources to other organizations working in public health.
The American Medical Association (AMA) Alliance warned parents today of yet another Hollywood film that exposes underage audiences to unnecessary smoking: "The Incredible Hulk." The AMA Alliance, the volunteer arm of the American Medical Association (AMA), includes more than 27,000 grassroots members working in their communities to protect children and promote healthy lifestyles. Over the past two years, they have paid particular attention to smoking in motion pictures, and they are calling for an R rating for any film with irresponsible or gratuitous tobacco images.
Universal Studios' "The Incredible Hulk" (PG-13) opens June 13 and is one of the summer's most anticipated movies. The film is a follow-up to 2003's "Hulk," which was also PG-13 but did not contain tobacco imagery. General Thaddeus 'Thunderbolt' Ross is a character who did not smoke at all during his appearances in the first film, but he is shown puffing on a cigar in nearly every scene in this sequel.
"Shame on 'The Incredible Hulk' for unnecessarily adding smoking to a sequel that would have been just as exciting and believable without it,"
Universal Studios' "The Incredible Hulk" (PG-13) opens June 13 and is one of the summer's most anticipated movies. The film is a follow-up to 2003's "Hulk," which was also PG-13 but did not contain tobacco imagery. General Thaddeus 'Thunderbolt' Ross is a character who did not smoke at all during his appearances in the first film, but he is shown puffing on a cigar in nearly every scene in this sequel. . . .
Other recent examples of smoking in movies based on comic books or children's television series include: "Iron Man" (PG-13; 2008); "Speed Racer" (PG; 2008); "X-Men: The Last Stand" (PG-13; 2006); "Superman Returns" (PG-13; 2006) and "Spider Man 2" (PG-13; 2004). . . .
"Movies remain a major influence on our children, affecting their behavior and shaping their perceptions of what is normal -- and even 'cool,'" added Fenyk. "The motion picture industry knows this and has taken action by giving an R rating to movies that depict drug and alcohol use, strong language or sexual behavior, and violence. Yet smoking, the deadliest of all addictions, continues in youth-rated films, even when their own industry colleagues oppose smoking in films."
On Monday, June 9, 2008, as soon as we learned of the state’s notifications, the American Legacy Foundation contacted the DOH to inform them that we are ready and willing to discuss a plan to present to the court to honor the state’s tobacco control commitments until a decision is made in the case. The parties used exactly this process to continue tobacco control programs earlier in the case. The court previously granted, with Legacy’s support, OTPF’s requests for authority to spend nearly $5 million to pay for outstanding charges and invoices as well as a six-figure payout requested by Ohio’s Treasurer to compensate its investment fund managers. While DOH has not yet responded to Legacy’s proposal, we remain hopeful that they will join our efforts to keep these life-saving programs in place during the remainder of the litigation.
Research shows that when effective tobacco control efforts are gutted, both youth and adult smoking rates are certain to rebound. Shutting down the local OTPF grant-funded programs that engage youth in tobacco prevention efforts and provide direct cessation services for adults will very likely have drastic public health consequences.
On Tuesday June 3, I was honored to have the opportunity to testify in front of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, emphasizing the critical need for tobacco prevention and cessation services to continue for the benefit of Ohioans.
The American Legacy Foundation intervened in this litigation to ask the court to declare valid the $190 million contract the Ohio Tobacco Prevention Foundation courageously entered into with Legacy to assure that the life-saving work of tobacco control in Ohio would continue. After three days of testimony on Legacy’s motion for a preliminary injunction, the court asked the parties to make written submissions by June 27, 2008. The court also ruled that the freeze currently in effect will continue until a ruling on the preliminary injunction.
The Ohio Foundation was shut down by the state last month after it filed suit in an effort to protect its endowment from being raided to fund, in part, a proposed jobs program.
While Legacy did not ask for these funds, we are proud to fight to secure them in order to continue doing life saving work in the state. If we succeed in our legal claim, we pledge to use these funds for the benefit of Ohio and fully expect that we would create an Ohio office for this purpose.
Legacy would like to urge smokers to get as much information as possible by consulting their physicians when taking the steps towards quitting smoking.
Ending nicotine addiction is difficult and smoking cessation medications such as prescription pills and nicotine replacement therapies -- like the patch, lozenge, gum or inhaler – taken individually or in combination can prove remarkably helpful in minimizing cravings for nicotine and withdrawal symptoms while smokers work to quit. . . .
It is important that smokers understand the urgency and the importance of trying to quit. No matter how smokers choose to quit, it is ultimately one of the single most important lifestyle changes they can make to improve and extend their lives.
Former Attorney General Marc Dann threatened the Ohio Tobacco Prevention Foundation that if it didn't rescind its contract giving away $190 million of its funds, it would be dissolved, the now defunct organization's executive director testified yesterday.
A few weeks later, the General Assembly and Gov. Ted Strickland passed a law killing the foundation created by lawmakers eight years earlier with funds from the state's multibillion-dollar settlement with tobacco companies.
Mike Renner, who lost his job as executive director when the foundation was shut down, said some trustees were led to believe by the Attorney General's Office that they could be personally held liable for their decisions.