Cutting Back on Anti-Smoking Bucks

Several media outlets have stories on the departure of Iowa's top anti-tobacco official in the wake of big funding cuts to the Division of Tobacco Use Prevention and Control.

Division Administrator Bonnie Mapes, who planned to take early retirement in 2012, left her post sooner than expected. From the Register of Des Moines:

Iowa's top tobacco-control official has lost her job after her division's budget was slashed by two-thirds.

Bonnie Mapes headed the Division of Tobacco Use Prevention and Control since 2004. She took early retirement after her boss, Public Health Director Mariannette Miller-Meeks, told her last month that her position was being terminated.

Mapes and Miller-Meeks said today that the move was due to the Legislature's decision to cut the division's budget from $7.8 million to $2.8 million, leaving an agency that was too small to require a full-time director.

Sen. Herrman Quirmbach, D-Ames, fired off a letter Monday protesting the move:

Last week while Lance Armstrong and other anti-cancer advocates were in Carroll, Iowa, promoting tobacco cessation and other wellness initiatives, the Branstad Administration was hard at work undercutting their efforts.

I was dismayed to learn that last week Iowa Department of Public Health Director Mariannette Miller-Meeks quietly fired Bonnie Mapes, administrator of the Division of Tobacco Use Prevention and Control. Miller-Meeks has told some members of the Tobacco Use Prevention and Control Commission that she intends to seek legislation to disband the Division entirely and that she has little interest in developing effective tobacco control policy, despite a statutory responsibility to do so.

Iowa's Division of Tobacco Use Prevention and Control is a national model for cancer prevention. According to the American Cancer Society, Iowa's anti-smoking efforts have resulted in a 24 percent drop in coronary heart disease, an 8 percent drop in heart attacks and a 5 percent drop in strokes. Iowa is now number two in the nation for the lowest adult smoking rate, and youth smoking rates dropped 13 percentage points from 2000-2008. Despite these remarkable successes, smoking remains the number one cause of death in our state, killing 4,400 Iowans each year.

Studies show that every dollar spent on tobacco cessation leads to $3 in health care savings. Yet during the legislative session, Republicans tried to completely eliminate funding for tobacco prevention and cessation. We persuaded them to keep $2.8 million in the budget, but that still represents a significant cut.

If Iowa is serious about fighting cancer, we can't afford to undermine prevention efforts. If you're among the 68 percent of Iowans who believe the state should support tobacco cessation efforts, I encourage you to make your voice heard before it's too late.

Public Health Director Mariannette Miller-Meeks says Mapes wasn't really sacked, and that smoking cessation and prevention efforts won't end. The Legislature, for instance, made it clear it expects Quitline Iowa to continue. But the flashy, aggressive Just Eliminate the Lies media campaigns aimed at young Iowans will likely be just eliminated. The specific funding picture is still being worked out.

Mapes was a hardworking public servant and her division did its job well. But how long do we really need to spend $7.8 million annually to tell Iowans that smoking is bad? In the interest of better prioritizing state dollars, I think this is a good place to look for savings.

I know Quirmbach and others feel strongly about this, and it's also a tempting political target for Dems. But there's also danger in jumping to decry every budget reduction, to act as if every program is sacred. This one isn't, at least not anymore.

The number of Iowans who smoke has plummeted. Smoking is banned in public places. Cigarettes are taxed mightily. I think the state has used ample doses of its power and influence to send the message that smoking is unhealthy and detrimental to society. And now it still has $2.8 million, not chump change, to further discourage it and help puffers stop. I don't buy the argument that slicing state tobacco bucks will lead to a smoking comeback.

I hate to see folks lose jobs, but governing in this day and age is about carefully prioritizing resources. I can think of better places to spend $5 million. I don't feel like that's a pro-cancer point of view.

Perhaps you disagree.