April 2012 

In This Issue:  

• Groups Call on Family Dollar to Reconsider Decision to Sell Cigarettes
• Legacy Continues to Raise Awareness of the Environmental Impact of Cigarettes
• New Study: Lung Cancer Screenings Save Lives and Money
• Courts Mull Constitutionality of Graphic Labels
• Next Warner Series on May 31: Tobacco Use and Mental Illness
• Scholarship Deadline Extended to April 30
• New Book Chronicles RICO Case
• Legacy Appreciates Your Support

Groups Call on Family Dollar to Reconsider Decision to Sell Cigarettes

Earlier this month, Family Dollar stores, a national discount retailer, announced it would start selling cigarettes and other tobacco products, a dire disappointment to the nation's public health and advocacy community. According to its website, Family Dollar stores mainly operate in neighborhoods with "low-income and low-middle income families, including senior citizens, minorities and at-risk youth." The prevalence of current smoking is greatest among adults with working class jobs, low educational levels, low income, and those who are unemployed; groups that comprise the very communities Family Dollar serves.

Making tobacco products more broadly available will only exacerbate the risks to those communities already hardest hit by tobacco use and related diseases. The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and Break Free Alliance have publicly urged the company to reconsider this decision to sell the nation's deadliest consumer product, and Legacy and a large group of public health organizations support their efforts.

Read more about this effort here.

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Earth Day Awareness: Butts Continue to Blight

According to The Tax Burden on Tobacco report of 2011, Americans purchased more than 287 billion cigarettes. For Earth Day 2012, Legacy is asking the public to think about where all those cigarette butts go. According to new national survey results from Legacy, more than half of the Americans surveyed in a March poll reported not knowing that cigarette butts are the No. 1 littered item every year on U.S. roadways and beaches.

According to research, a vast number of those cigarette butts, including the filters, will be flicked into the environment and land along waterways, parks, beaches and public roads. In observance of Earth Day on April 22, Legacy is working to raise awareness about the negative impact cigarette filters and discarded cigarette butts have on our natural world.

The reality is that the consequences of tobacco use go beyond public health. Cigarette butts contain heavy metals that can leach into waterways, posing a lethal threat to aquatic life. In one laboratory test, a single cigarette butt soaked in a liter of water was lethal to half of the fish exposed. According to environmental cleanup reports, nearly two million cigarettes or cigarette filters/butts were picked up internationally from beaches and inland waterways as part of the annual International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) in 2010, including more than one million from the United States alone. Cigarette butts account for more than three times the number of any other item found over the past 25 years of ICC cleanups, and cigarette litter clean-up costs can be substantial to local authorities.

To read more information about the environmental impact of cigarettes or to learn how to help stop this problem, visit: www.legacyforhealth.org/environment.

To kick off Earth Week on April 16, Legacy staff cleaned up more than 5,500 cigarette butts from Dupont Circle.

Additionally, to encourage community awareness and clean-ups at the local level, Legacy is holding a contest. The first 200 people to e-mail environment@legacyforhealth.org with their Earth Day cigarette butt clean-up story and an image, will receive a free t-shirt from Legacy. 

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New Study: Lung Cancer Screenings Save Lives and Money

A new study released in the April 2012 edition of Health Affairs shows the benefits of technology that allows doctors to screen patients at high-risk for lung cancer. Researchers found that such procedures can save lives, and that they do so at a lower cost than similar screenings for other cancers (mammography for breast cancer, for instance). The study found low-dose spiral computed tomography, or CT scans, could help avert 15,000 deaths a year in 50-64 year olds who are at high risk for lung cancer, including smokers, which accounts for 28 percent of all cancer deaths. The cost per life-year saved - a commonly used measurement of public health value - is under $19,000. By comparison, the cost per life-year saved for mammography screening is $31,000 to $51,000 and for colorectal cancer screening is $19,000 to $29,000.

A key consideration in health insurance is how new benefits impact the monthly cost to employers, which currently averages $300 a month or more for each person covered. The study showed that the cost of adding CT screening would be $0.76 per member per month in 2012. In comparison, in 2006, the cost of breast cancer screening was $2.50 per member per month and the cost for colon cancer screening was $0.95. These screenings each cost less than $3 in today's currency.

In a statement distributed April 9, Legacy and the Lung Cancer Alliance hailed the study and reiterated the need to ensure that high quality lung cancer screening for high risk populations is embedded into the public health infrastructure so that fewer lives are needlessly lost to lung cancer. Lung Cancer Alliance is the only national non-profit organization dedicated solely to providing support and advocacy for people living with or at risk for lung cancer.

Read the full release here.  

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Courts Mull Constitutionality of Graphic Labels

This month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit heard oral arguments in the federal case challenging the rule requiring graphic warning labels on cigarettes. The labels were set to appear on cigarette packs by September 2012 but were challenged by tobacco companies that maintain the label placement violates their right to free speech under the First Amendment.

Judge Richard Leon of the D.C. District Court ruled February 29 that the Food and Drug Administration's required graphic warning labels violate the First Amendment rights of the tobacco companies, constituting "compelled speech." Siding with Big Tobacco, Leon ruled the images were "neither factual nor accurate." The bizarre finding contradicts what we have known for years - that between one-half and one-third of those who continue to smoke over the course of their lives will ultimately die from it. This ruling marks the second time Judge Leon has ruled in favor of Big Tobacco. Judge Leon's first decision, which granted the tobacco companies' motion for a preliminary injunction stopping the implementation of the regulation - was appealed to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for D.C., which heard oral arguments on April 10. Judge Leon's February 29th decision constituted the "final" decision of the lower court and was yet another setback for public health.

In a related case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled March 19 in a tobacco industry challenge to the constitutionality of numerous provisions in the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, including the statutory provision requiring graphic warnings. The court upheld the constitutionality of the provision, one of the most high-profile parts of the Act.  The statute requires graphic warning labels that would cover half of cigarette packages on both the front and rear panels in order to communicate the deadly effects of tobacco.  While the Sixth Circuit upheld the constitutionality of the statutory provision, the D.C. Circuit is presented with a slightly different legal issue-whether the specific graphic warnings ordered by the FDA are constitutional.

Graphic warning labels have an enormous potential to deter new smokers from lighting up and help current smokers make the important life-changing decision to quit. In Australia, Canada and other countries, labels on cigarette packs have been shown to be successful components of a comprehensive tobacco control strategy, providing incentive for smokers to quit. A decision from the D.C. Circuit has not yet been issued, but, with lives at stake, the public health community eagerly awaits the verdict. 

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A Hidden Epidemic: Tobacco Use and Mental Illness

Scholarship Deadline Extended to April 30

Applications are still being accepted for the Dr. Alma S. Adams Scholarship for Outreach and Health Communications. The award is given to individuals working to reduce tobacco use among groups and populations who are disproportionately targeted by the tobacco industry, or who often lack the tools and resources to combat smoking in their communities. The scholarship, named for founding Legacy board member Dr. Alma S. Adams, will award two $5,000 scholarships to pursue undergraduate or graduate studies at an accredited institution of higher education in the United States. The awards will be granted on a competitive basis for the following: a) a record of commitment to community service on behalf of an underserved community, preferably related to tobacco prevention and/or control and b) the best use of the visual arts, media, creative writing or other creative endeavors to convey culturally appropriate health messages aimed at raising awareness of tobacco's harmful impact.

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New Book Chronicles RICO Case 

Bad Acts: The Racketeering Case Against the Tobacco Industry tells the behind-the-scenes story of the Department of Justice's (DOJ) landmark Racketeer Corrupt Influenced Organizations (RICO) Act lawsuit against the tobacco industry. Authors Sharon Y. Eubanks, who was the lead attorney for DOJ, and Stanton A. Glantz, PhD a Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) and Director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California San Francisco, illustrates the realities of bringing the largest public health case against a major industry, that ended with the major tobacco companies being found to be racketeers and placed under ongoing oversight by a federal court. 

The book is available at www.aphabookstore.org or on Amazon.com. 
 

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