Reduce demand for tobacco

By The Gazette Editorial Board

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Applause for the Linn County Public Health Department. Earlier this year, the agency was one of just 14 nationwide to secure a two-year federal Communities Putting Prevention to Work tobacco grant.

Linn County officials are testing initiatives to see what will work best to reduce use of all tobacco products. That's great, and we hope the emphasis is on education, training and assistance - not pushing unworkable local ordinances that foist heavy mandates on businesses that sell tobacco.

A $2 million grant has allowed the county to hire a dozen people for this project. Certainly, their work is important. Iowa's Smokefree Air Act, implemented in 2008, prohibits smoking in public places but not use of other tobacco items. Now there's growing concern about the attraction of new products hitting the market, such as smokeless tobacco that dissolves in the mouth and spitless tobacco packaged in candy-style tins.

A new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control found that states with the nation's lowest smoking rates use three types of tobacco control measures: high cigarette taxes, smoke-free laws that include restaurants and bars, and sustained prevention and cessation programs.

Iowa has the first two measures in place after recent legislation and is improving on the other. For example, the Iowa Legislature several years ago created the Just Eliminate Lies campaign that targets teenagers with advertising and education campaigns that fight back at tobacco company ads and packaging. JEL's 7,000 teenage members help lead the effort.

But more should be done. The CDC report shows that 17.2 percent of Iowa adults still smoke, the 20th lowest rate among all states, and 4.5 percent use smokeless tobacco, ranking 30th. Among high school students, 18.2 percent smoke.

As long as tobacco is a legal product (for those 18 and over) nationwide, we see little practical value - and enforcement nightmares - in devising local ordinances that ban its sale. We'd rather see the Linn County project focus on reducing the demand for tobacco. Determine best practices in educating students and adults, workplace policy and advising retailers on how to minimize children's exposure to tobacco displays.

Take a cue from today's 35th Great American Smokeout (www.cancer.org/Healthy/StayAwayfromTobacco/GreatAmericanSmokeout/index). Since the debut of this American Cancer Society public awareness event, the percentage of U.S. adults who smoke has dropped from 34 percent to 21 percent. Build on that. Convince more people to avoid or quit this deadly habit that claims 440,000 lives every year.