Tobacco.org

Tobacco ads trick you into addiction, speaker shows  

Bailey Quanbeck thinks her classmates may think twice before deciding to smoke, now that they know some of the ingredients in cigarettes.

"I was surprised to find out that fingernail polish was in them," the eighth grader said.

Brandon Valley Middle School students learned about the dangers of tobacco from Peter DeBenedittis, a former ad agency director who now tours the country telling people how tobacco advertising tricks people into using the product.

"What fires together, wires together," was the main theme of three talks he gave March 5 in Brandon. After speaking to middle school students in the morning, he spoke to high school students in the afternoon and community members that evening. The daytime presentations were sponsored by a grant that school counselor Amy Lupkes arranged. The evening presentation was sponsored by the Brandon Tobacco Prevention Coalition, through a grant from the South Dakota Department of Human Services. . . .

"From junior high through high school, half a million ads hit your brain," he said. The ads equate smoking with glamour, power, sex, fun, beauty and other desirable things. But smoking doesn't deliver, Small said. She saw her grandfather "slowly suffocate" from emphysema caused by smoking. "It was absolutely terrible," she said.

"Once you're on it, you can't quit. Kids need to know that it's not just something you can do for a short time and then think when you're older it's not cool any more. It doesn't work that way."

During the evening session, DeBenedittis showed parents what the subliminal messages were behind the ads.

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LETTER: Many objective reasons for cigarette tax hike  

Last month, I submitted a letter urging a significant increase in the tobacco tax. Over a glass of wine, a good friend thanked me for my opinion and suggested personal opinions are rarely persuasive. Good point, well taken. So for any who might be curious, there are large databases you can reference.

Smoking contributes to the cost of unreimbursed health care and the cost of funded health care programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid. Equally important are nonmedical costs, such as lost work productivity ($97 billion each year). Moreover, smoking contributes to our higher insurance premiums. . . .

estimated health care and productivity costs are almost $5 for every single pack of cigarettes sold. And the "tobacco settlements" did not pay for these annual "hits" on our economy.

Tobacco is a vehicle for misery. Any pulmonary physician can tell you about hundreds of patients who suffer daily from diseases caused by smoking. Their lives, and unfortunately, the lives of their families, are literally being destroyed.

It's time for everyone to quit smoking and to stop supporting this killer habit. One way to do this is through a painful tax on tobacco. This tax revenue should go directly to health care support, including education for our youth.

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HUBER: Raiding state smoking fund is shortsighted 

In 2006, South Dakota voters approved an initiative to increase the cigarette tax by $1 per pack and to dedicate $5 million annually to help smokers quit and prevent kids from starting smoking.

The results of consistent funding have been remarkable. South Dakota's youth smoking has declined from 44 percent in 1999 to 27 percent today, and there still is much work to do . . .

But that progress and South Dakota's Tobacco Prevention and Reduction Trust Fund are at risk.

Lawmakers in Pierre are considering removing $1 million to all $5 million from the tobacco-control program to further feed the general fund. . . .

South Dakotans made it clear in 2006. They understood consistent investment in reducing tobacco use would result in consistent returns in dollars and lives saved. . . .

On behalf of the South Dakota State Medical Association and the South Dakota Tobacco-Free Kids Network, I urge our lawmakers to preserve the program's full funding and to remember that any short-term financial gain can result in long-term financial and human losses.

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E-Cigarette Survey  

South Dakota voters will decide the fate of a statewide smoking ban in November. But a smoke-free mindset has already infused many businesses that don't allow their customers to light up. Now, technology is paving the way for patrons to puff away even in smoke-free zones. We find out what kind of reception electronic cigarettes are receiving among the non-smoking crowd. . . .

So we introduced Parker to this electronic device called an e-cigarette that allows people to puff without the smell or the smoke.

"Oh, that's just too weird," Parker said. . . .

The e-cigarette looks so much like the real thing, it draws immediate attention in a smoke-free business.

Customer: I don't like smoke. It bothers me. Parker: Really, that's too bad. Customer: I thought your door said no smoking. Customer: It is no smoking. Parker: Yeah.

These customers weren't at all impressed even after Parker explained how the e-cigarette works.

Parker: Don't you think it's kind of cool? Customer: No. Parker: You don't? Customer: Not at all. . . .

E-cigarettes haven't surfaced yet among the clients at Dean-O's. But Parker expects customers will eventually warm to these surrogate smokes as technology redefines what it means to light up.

Some other smoke-free businesses we checked with discourage the use of e-cigarettes because they believe the cigarettes may give customers the mistaken impression that smoking is allowed.

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2009 Session - Bill History 

02/02/2009 First read in House and referred to House State Affairs H.J. 243

02/18/2009 Scheduled for hearing Audio Available . . .

03/10/2009 Signed by Speaker H.J. 757

03/11/2009 Signed by President S.J. 745

03/11/2009 Delivered to the Governor H.J. 781

03/30/2009 Signed by Governor H.J. 854

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VIDEO: Legislators Decide Against Smoking Ban Exemptions 

A bill that died in a Health and Human services House Committee in Pierre today would have let South Dakotans vote on whether certain public places should be exempt from a state wide smoking ban. Some lawmakers on this committee say the bill would have created some smoking ban confusion when it came time for you to cast your vote.

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SD lawmakers reject 2nd smoking ban ballot measure  

South Dakota residents have known for months that they would get to vote this fall on whether to accept the state's new comprehensive smoking ban.

On Tuesday, lawmakers on the House Health Committee rejected a proposal that would have asked voters to also decide the whether to instead back a weaker ban.

Opponents of the proposed weaker ban, including House Republican Leader Bob Faehn, said it would have been confusing to voters to have to try to distinguish between two competing measures.

"I'm kind of suspicious that's what might be going on here,"

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VIDEO: Fire-Safe Cigarettes to be Required in SD in 2011 

South Dakota has adopted a law to only have fire safe cigarettes. It was signed into law March 30th of last year, but won't take effect until January 1st of next year. Minnesota and Iowa already have laws in effect

For John, the law going into effect will be a step in the right direction.

"The fire safe cigarettes aren't totally aren't totally safe, but they're a lot better than what we got now," said Wagner.

The news from other states has been good so far

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Woman burned in apartment fire  

A Sioux Falls woman was taken to a Minneapolis burn unit after a smoldering cigarette ignited a fire in her apartment.

The fire began just before 9:30 p.m. Wednesday in the upper level of a duplex at 1016 S. Norton Ave. The woman, who is in her mid-40s, fell asleep on the couch with a lit cigarette, Sioux Falls Fire Inspector John Wagner said.

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SD woman burned in apartment fire dies  

Police say 46-year-old Diane Smith-Avant suffered third-degree burns on 85 percent of her body. . . .

Authorities say the fire was caused by careless use of a cigarette.

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EDITORIAL: State's tobacco programs need improvement 

Each year the American Lung Association, an archenemy of smoking, grades the states and federal government on their tobacco control efforts. There is no doubt South Dakota needs to improve its 2009 grades: Incomplete in smoke-free air, "F" in smoking cessation, "D" for prevention and control spending, and "C" for its cigarette tax. . . .

By comparison, North Dakota is the only state that meets 100 percent of the CDC-recommended levels, which are based on state population. . . .

Minnesota's Medicaid program provides coverage for all seven recommended cessation medications and individual and group counseling. State health plans cover six of the seven medications and phone and online counseling.

Both of our neighbors received a "B."

South Dakota's "C" for its tobacco tax is based on the rate of $1.53 a pack. In 2006, the Legislature passed a bill increasing the tax on cigarettes by $1 a pack and increasing the tax on all other tobacco products on the wholesale level. That, too, went to a public vote, passed and took effect in 2007. The increase boosted the state's rating to the 10th highest in the nation. Since then other states have increased taxes, dropping South Dakota to 21st. Minnesota ranks 20th with a tax of $1.56 per pack, earning a "C"; North Dakota comes in at 45th with a tax of 44 cents per pack, earning it an "F." Per-pack tax ranges from $3.56 in Rhode Island to 7 cents in South Carolina.

It's time to take additional steps to clean up our act - and our air.

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LETTER: Up In Smoke? 

I called Rep. Bernie Hunhoff before they voted on the smoking ban. I asked him if they knew about all the businesses that closed in Minnesota after they past their smoking ban. He said "Yes, they knew." I asked then how do you plan to make up the lost revenue. He said, "We do not have to worry for a few years because of the stimulus money" -- $632 million over three years. The taxpayers have to pay that back.

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Lawmakers may fix petition mess 

South Dakota's lawmakers may tweak the law concerning petitions and elections, just enough to avoid the fiasco we had with the smoking ban petition drive.

Senate Bill 13, filed earlier this week, would require notaries to verify that the petition circulator's signature is complete and on the forms as needed.

That wasn't always the case with petitioners trying to push the state's smoking ban to a public vote. The ensuing confusion ended up in court where a judge ruled it can go to a vote in the 2010 election.

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Smoking ban battle rated top SD story of 2009  

The battle over a statewide smoking ban ranks as the top South Dakota story of 2009 as selected by Associated Press member newspaper editors and broadcast news directors in the state.

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LETTER: Smokers will go out again  

The opposition to the smoking ban in South Dakota has me scratching my head. Do all the businesses and casinos in the state believe their establishments are in danger of losing money just because certain people will not be able to smoke inside? That's not going to happen.

Smokers might say they are going to go some place else, but honestly, where exactly are they going to go? Some will say they won't go out anymore. That will last for only awhile, but before too long they will get the itch to resume their social lives again.

If your answer to the question above is yes, then you are severely underrating your establishment, the loyalty that certain customers have regardless of whether they can smoke there and the potential a smoking ban has to attract new nonsmoking customers. . . .

To those who oppose the ban because they think it is some kind of way for the government to control your lives, give me a break. Why don't you try to quit? You soon will realize how much a single cigarette runs your life. Then we'll talk about control.

Everyone needs to stand back, take a deep breath and look at the bigger picture.

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