Tobacco.org

Findings of Decades of Massive Fraud by Tobacco Industry Upheld in U.S. Court of Appeals 

This decision overwhelmingly affirms findings of liability and remedies by the lower court - findings that are especially damning for the tobacco industry. However, we regret that the Court upheld the lower court decision that the remedies available under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) were limited and cannot be forward looking. The Foundation hopes that the Department of Justice will continue its strong advocacy on behalf of the victims of this massive fraud, as well as future victims of tobacco addiction and disease.

As this case moves forward, possibly to the Supreme Court, the Foundation supports both the government and our public health colleagues who argued for the efficacy and long-term health benefits derived from funding effective counter marketing programs to address youth smoking prevention and adult smoking cessation. These advocates intervened on behalf of the American public to assert that these remedies could save countless lives by funding effective programs to keep teens from starting to smoke, limit the effects of secondhand smoke and provide critical tools to help tobacco-addicted adults quit.

"With this decision, decades of deceptive marketing practices leading to massive disease and death have finally come home to roost for the tobacco industry," said American Legacy Foundation President & CEO Cheryl G. Healton, DrPH. "More than 400,000 Americans lose their lives to tobacco-related diseases each year."

Healton, who testified in the lower court proceedings, added that "research has consistently shown that for every dollar spent on prevention and cessation programs, lives are saved."

Jump to full article »

• New Survey Highlights Emotional, Financial Toll Multi-Generational Tobacco Use Takes on Parents Sandwiched In Between 

As caregivers across the country mobilize for Sandwich Generation Month in July, the American Legacy Foundation(R) today released the results of a recent survey analyzing the unique concerns associated with tobacco use and prevention for Americans raising their own kids while simultaneously caring for their aging parents - millions of whom have been life-long smokers and are now struggling with the resulting health effects. Lung cancer, heart disease, stroke, and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (COPD), which includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema, can all afflict aging smokers and can be emotionally and financially debilitating for families forced to cope with them.

The survey, conducted by Opinion Research Corporation, found that 75 percent of respondents with a parent who is a current or former smoker are concerned about their aging parent's current or past smoking or their diagnosis of having a tobacco-related disease. Thirty-four percent of respondents with teenage or adult children indicated that they were concerned about their child's current or potential smoking. About 5% of respondents were "sandwiched" in between: struggling with issues related to both their parents and children smoking. Nationwide, this small percentage translates to more than 10 million Americans in this situation.

The survey highlights the unique position of this group of Americans and their concerns about the impact of the nation's number-one preventable cause of death on their emotional and financial well-being. . . .

"As healthcare reform and the economy dominate our headlines, we simply cannot ignore the burden of smoking on the health of America's families," said Cheryl G. Healton

Jump to full article »

• Using The Internet To Help Young Smokers Quit 

The University of Illinois at Chicago is leading a $2.9 million National Cancer Institute project to increase demand for evidence-based, Internet-based smoking cessation treatment among young adults.

"Even though many young adults think about quitting and actually want to stop smoking, they tend not to use what we know works - evidence-based approaches to quitting," said psychology professor Robin Mermelstein, director of UIC's Institute for Health Research and Policy and principal investigator of the five-year study.

Young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 have the highest rates of smoking compared to any other age group, but they have among the lowest rates of quitting, according to Mermelstein.

A multidisciplinary team of investigators from UIC, the University of Iowa and the American Legacy Foundation will work with GDS&M Idea City advertising agency to develop interactive, Internet-based ads and evaluate what messages motivate young smokers to use the evidence-based stop smoking program www.BecomeAnEx.org. . . .

The four-part study will develop Internet-based ads, evaluate if the ads are reaching young adults and driving them to Internet-based cessation programs, determine if the approaches are effective, and find out if those who used the Internet-based program were successful in stopping smoking.

Jump to full article »

Using the Internet to help young smokers quit 

The University of Illinois at Chicago is leading a $2.9 million National Cancer Institute project to increase demand for evidence-based, Internet-based smoking cessation treatment among young adults.

"Even though many young adults think about quitting and actually want to stop smoking, they tend not to use what we know works -- evidence-based approaches to quitting," said psychology professor Robin Mermelstein, director of UIC's Institute for Health Research and Policy and principal investigator of the five-year study.

Young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 have the highest rates of smoking compared to any other age group, but they have among the lowest rates of quitting, according to Mermelstein.

A multidisciplinary team of investigators from UIC, the University of Iowa and the American Legacy Foundation will work with GDS&M Idea City advertising agency to develop interactive, Internet-based ads and evaluate what messages motivate young smokers to use the evidence-based stop smoking program www.BecomeAnEx.org.

Jump to full article »

American Legacy Foundation® Comments on FDA Authority on Tobacco Products 

This measure would not have been possible without the dedication of many Congressional leaders and their staff who have long fought to reduce tobacco use in the United States. We want to also congratulate the bill's lead sponsors, Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA), Congressman Todd Platts (R-PA), Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Senator John Cornyn (R-TX).

Senator Christopher Dodd's (D-CT) leadership on the bill on the past few months also made today possible and the bill enjoyed support from long-time champions Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA).

Many other Congressional leaders played a critical role to get this bill passed, sharing personal stories and speaking out against an industry that has gone long unchecked.

We congratulate the many organizations and groups that have worked tirelessly over the past decade to make this bill a reality. They have demonstrated incredible commitment to help protect Americans from the devastating consequences of tobacco use.

We want to especially acknowledge the organizations that have championed this effort, including the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, American Cancer Society, American Heart Association and the American Lung Association, among countless others. The American Legacy Foundation looks forward to continuing our mission to build a world where young people reject tobacco and anyone can quit. That possibility is one step closer to reality today as this law is enacted.

Jump to full article »

American Legacy Foundation® and Georgetown University Medical Center Create Research Collaboration 

The Steven A. Schroeder Institute for Tobacco Research and Policy Studies at the American Legacy Foundation and the LombardiComprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University Medical Center ("GUMC") announced today the establishment of the Schroeder/Lombardi Cancer Control Consortium. The consortium, formally agreed to yesterday on the Georgetown University campus, seeks to advance tobacco-related research, policy and education, utilizing the shared knowledge and expertise of these two leading research organizations.

"This partnership with Lombardi will dramatically elevate our ability to conduct first-class research on the most important elements of tobacco prevention and control," says Cheryl G. Healton, Dr. P.H., president and CEO of the American Legacy Foundation. "Our Foundation is now celebrating its tenth year, and I can't think of a more exciting way to pave the way for progress in the decade to come than by teaming up with Georgetown and Lombardi," she adds.

"By partnering with the American Legacy Foundation, we're able to accelerate the translation of new findings discovered in a laboratory setting into clinical applications and cutting-edge tobacco cessation interventions,"

Jump to full article »

State launching new anti-smoking campaign  

The Missouri Foundation for Health has launched a national campaign, "Become An Ex" to Missouri to help combat the state's high smoking rates.

The foundation, as a founding member of the National Alliance for Tobacco Cessation, joins leading public health organizations and 13 other states to make this unprecedented public health effort possible.

The Ex campaign was developed by the American Legacy Foundation along with health experts at the Mayo Clinic.

Jump to full article »

Getting to the Truth: Evaluating National Tobacco Countermarketing Campaigns  

Objectives. This study examines how the American Legacy Foundation's "truth" campaign and Philip Morris's "Think. Don't Smoke" campaign have influenced youths' attitudes, beliefs, and intentions toward tobacco.

Methods. We analyzed 2 telephone surveys of 12- to 17-year-olds with multivariate logistic regressions: a baseline survey conducted before the launch of "truth" and a second survey 10 months into the "truth" campaign.

Results. Exposure to "truth" countermarketing advertisements was consistently associated with an increase in anti-tobacco attitudes and beliefs, whereas exposure to Philip Morris advertisements generally was not. In addition, those exposed to Philip Morris advertisements were more likely to be open to the idea of smoking.

Conclusions. Whereas exposure to the "truth" campaign positively changed youths' attitudes toward tobacco, the Philip Morris campaign had a counterproductive influence.

Jump to full article »

ELLIS/NORTHRIDGE: EDITOR'S CHOICE Tobacco and the Media 

Tobacco marketing through a wide variety of media has long been a part of the adolescent experience. This month's cover image of the cowboy is familiar to generations of former, current, and future adolescents. Like the cowboy himself, this image harks back to former times and simpler ways.

Today's tobacco advertising has its own distinct flavor. Gone are the cartoon characters that proved wildly successful in marketing tobacco to youths. In their place are more confusing and sophisticated campaigns, ostensibly designed to reduce the level of direct marketing to adolescents. They nonetheless retain the cunning ability to attract young consumers through deliberate manipulation of antismoking messages.

All antismoking campaigns are not the same, as reported in the forum on youth smoking in this month's Journal. The funds from the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) were used to establish the American Legacy Foundation . . .

According to Mark Schapiro in the May 2, 2002 issue of The Nation, "Tobacco is one of the most globalized industries on the planet. More cigarettes are traded than any other product, some trillion "sticks," as they're known in the business, passing international borders each year."(p11) Youths throughout the world are subjected to a barrage of images, many designed specifically to encourage impulse purchasing of tobacco products without attention to legally required health warnings. Indeed, Melanie Wakefield and her colleagues carefully document, also in this month's Journal, the point-of-purchase marketing practices in the United States that have filled the void since the 1998 MSA billboard advertising ban (937).

Still, there is cause for celebration. Thanks to the efforts of the American Legacy Foundation and other courageous anti-tobacco groups, the cowboy on the cover is accompanied by a partner far more apt than the sidekicks that we saw growing up: a body bag.

Jump to full article »

Statement by American Legacy Foundation(R): Findings of Decades of Massive Fraud by Tobacco Industry Upheld in U.S. Court of Appeals 

In referring to the lower court decision, the three judge panel found "the [lower] court had before it sufficient evidence from which to conclude that Defendants' executives, who directed the activities for the Defendant corporations and their joint entities, knew about the negative health consequences of smoking, the addictiveness and manipulation of nicotine, the harmfulness of secondhand smoke, and the concept of smoker compensation, which makes light cigarettes no less harmful that regular cigarettes and possibly more."

The ruling continued: "The Government presented evidence indicating that specific high-ranking corporate officials were directly informed about these matters, as well as evidence of pervasive knowledge and acceptance of these propositions throughout the Defendant organizations," a reference to specific tobacco companies and entities named in the lawsuit. . . .

As this case moves forward, possibly to the Supreme Court, the Foundation supports both the government and our public health colleagues who argued for the efficacy and long-term health benefits derived from funding effective counter marketing programs to address youth smoking prevention and adult smoking cessation. These advocates intervened on behalf of the American public to assert that these remedies could save countless lives by funding effective programs to keep teens from starting to smoke, limit the effects of secondhand smoke and provide critical tools to help tobacco-addicted adults quit.

"With this decision, decades of deceptive marketing practices leading to massive disease and death have finally come home to roost for the tobacco industry," said American Legacy Foundation(R) President & CEO Cheryl G. Healton, DrPH. "More than 400,000 Americans lose their lives to tobacco-related diseases each year."

Jump to full article »

American Legacy Foundation® Welcomes New Board Member  

The American Legacy Foundation welcomes President and Chief Executive Officer of the Western New York Public Broadcasting Association, Donald K. Boswell to its board of directors. He brings years of experience in public broadcasting with a focus on quality educational programs that promote and advance communities.

Boswell leads the award-winning WNED station in Buffalo, NY. He has won five national program Emmys for television productions, such as "Reading Rainbow" and "The Mark Russell Comedy Specials," which were mainstays on PBS for many years. He has been a long-time supporter of educational programs by leading the station's partnership with Buffalo Public Schools to provide education for teachers on the use of new technologies in the classroom. Through his leadership, WNED operated an educational outreach program for people to earn their GEDs. He went on to lead other educational efforts including the "Ready to Learn" program for pre-school age children to help them with school.

Jump to full article »

Are E-Cigarettes Becoming a Victim of Friendly Fire or Vicious Assault From Special Interest Groups? 

- While e-cigarettes have no known carcinogens and offer the benefit of no secondhand or sidestream smoke, some say that the products have been falling victim to friendly fire in the media. While the e-cigarette manufacturers and retailers believe they are on the same side of health organizations who want people to stop using tobacco, some anti-smoking campaigns are hostile to the idea.

Cheryl Healton, President and CEO of the American Legacy Foundation, is concerned that the product could be used to slow down the quitting process.

The American Legacy Foundation states on its website:

"We have seen no studies regarding whether e-cigarettes actually help smokers quit or, instead, delay cessation attempts by providing smokers with a way to continue their smoking behaviors when they cannot smoke a tobacco product."

With four prominent politicians on the board of directors, ranging from state attorney generals to senators and one who was named to World Pharmaceutical Frontiers' first "Pharma 40" list, it could easily be understood how this could be more of a political agenda than in the best interests of smokers and the public of the United States.

Even amid all of this, e-cigarettes are still rolling out to the public. Demand seems to be growing by the day, no matter what type of negative campaign comes along, suggesting that the public seems to be making up their own minds on the matter. After a recent spot on The Today Show concerning e-cigarettes, sales skyrocketed.

"Our sales shot up 100%," says Kyle Newton of EcigarettesChoice.com.

Jump to full article »

Some Smokers See E-Cigarette As Civil Rights Issue 

With the pressure from the FDA and other health organizations, some e-cigarette users believe that e-cigarettes are not only safer, but as long as tobacco cigarettes stay legal, they have a right to a safer alternative.

Jump to full article »

Smoking prevention campaign saving billions in smoking-related care 

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the American Legacy Foundation have estimated that truth®, the nations' largest youth smoking prevention campaign, saved $1.9 billion or more in health care costs associated with tobacco use. The results were published February 12 online by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Jump to full article »

Tobacco is Toxic for Toto Too  

The American Legacy Foundation® is challenging pet owners to quit smoking for their pets during the month of April, which kicks off Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Month. A growing body of research shows there are no safe levels of exposure to secondhand smoke—for humans or for animals. And one new study shows that nearly 30 percent of pet owners live with at least one smoker – a number far too high given the consequences of exposure to secondhand smoke (“SHS”).

“Secondhand smoke doesn’t just affect people,” said Dr. Cheryl G. Healton, DrPH, President and CEO of the American Legacy Foundation®, the national independent public health foundation dedicated to keeping young people from smoking and providing resources to smokers who want to quit. “While most Americans have been educated about the dangers of smoking to their own bodies, it is equally important that pet owners take action to protect their beloved domestic pets from the dangers of secondhand smoke.”

An estimated 50,000 Americans lose their lives to secondhand smoke annually and 4 million youth (16 percent) are exposed to secondhand smoke in their homes. A number of studies have indicated that animals, too, face health risks when exposed to the toxins in secondhand smoke, from respiratory problems, allergies and even nasal and lung cancer in dogs and lymphoma in cats. In addition, the ASPCA, one of the largest animal rights groups in the U.S., lists tobacco smoke as a toxin that is dangerous to pets. . . .

In order to better protect dogs, cats or other pets, the foundation and ASPCA recommend that smokers – who often consider their domestic pets a part of the family – “take it outside” when they are smoking. The foundation also provides resources and information to smokers who want to quit for their own health through a national campaign called EX®, including a Web site for smokers who are quitting just for their pets:

Jump to full article »