Pfizer Medical Education Group Announces Grantees

New HHS Tobacco Website Launched

Resources

Other Tobacco News

New HHS Tobacco Website Launched

As part of the 37th Great American Smokeout on November 15th, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the launch of BeTobaccoFree.gov, a comprehensive website providing one-stop access to the best and most up-to-date tobacco-related information from across its agencies (CDC/OSH, FDA, NIH/NCI, the Office of the Assistant Secretary, and the Office of the Surgeon General). This consolidated resource includes general information on tobacco as well as federal and state laws and policies, health statistics, and evidence-based methods on how to quit. 

BeTobaccoFree.gov uses responsive design, making information accessible anywhere, anytime, on any platform-from smart phones to tablets to desktops. The site's social media dashboard, "Say it - share it," constantly  provides real-time updates from HHS tobacco-related social media accounts, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr, infographics, and podcasts.

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Resources

Reports

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's State Health Reform Assistance Network has recently produced two reports that offer practical tools and advice to help with implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on the state level. 

Managing State-Level ACA Implementation Through Interagency Collaboration

This report describes the leadership and coordination strategies being successfully used by states during early implementation of the ACA. It provides several tools and spreadsheets that state officials and stakeholders can use to identify needed program changes and monitor the progress of reform.

Predicting the Health Insurance Coverage Impacts of Complex Policy Changes:

A New Tool for States

The University of Minnesota's State Health Access Data Assistance Center (SHADAC) released a projection model designed to help states estimate the coverage impact of the ACA. States can use the model to test the potential impact of various policy choices.

New Report Shows a Significant Decrease in Adolescent Smoking During Past Decade

According to a report by SAMHSA, current smoking among 12-17-year-olds fell significantly from 2002 to 2010 in 41 states. The report also showed that during the same period, adolescent perception of risk from cigarette smoking remained unchanged in most states.

Adolescent cigarette use nationwide declined from 12.6% to 8.7%, but significant differences remained among states. For example, Wyoming had the nation's highest rate of 13.5%-more than double Utah's, which had the lowest rate, of 5.9 %. The study defined current use as smoking in the past month.

The report, State Estimates of Adolescent Cigarette Use and Perceptions of Risk of Smoking: 2009 and 2010, is based on findings from SAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use and Health reports for the years 2002-2003 and 2009-2010. 

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Journal Articles 

Lisa Kroon and Robin Corelli from University of California, San Francisco, and Andrew Roth and Karen Hudmon from Purdue University recently published a paper on public perceptions of the ban on tobacco sales in San Francisco community pharmacies, http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2012/11/20/tobaccocontrol-2012-050602.full.pdf. 

Follow this link to read Steve Schroeder, MD's commentary from the Archives of Internal Medicine, titled Smoking Among Hospitalized Patients: Another Opportunity to Improve Patients' Health Comment on "Prevalence and Predictors of Smoking by Inpatients During a Hospital Stay".

In addition, Dr. Schroeder published another editorial recently in JAMA, "How clinicians can help smokers to quit" http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1383219.  

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Other Tobacco News

Smoking in Airports 

A new report by the CDC affirms that airport smoking lounges don't eliminate the hazards of secondhand smoke either inside or outside designated smoking rooms.  Air quality in areas near the smoking rooms is 5 times worse than in smokefree airports. According to the report, the air quality inside airport smoking rooms and bars is 23 times worse than in smokefree airports.

Flying during the holidays?
 

Check out ANR's list of the smoking policies at the 35 busiest US airports.

• These airports allow indoor smoking: Atlanta, Washington Dulles, Denver, Salt Lake City, Memphis and Nashville.
• These airports are smokefree: Lambert-St. Louis and Reagan National Airport.

Olympic Smoking

Tobacco companies worked for years to maintain smoking in airports through initiatives such as the Philip Morris Options and Accommodation program. These projects were designed to promote ventilation and smoking rooms. For example, Atlanta's Hartsfield Airport used to be smokefree until Philip Morris lobbied to have smoking rooms installed for the 1996 Olympics.

 Smoking Lounge at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport

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A New Way to Think About Quitting
About re-learning life without cigarettes, the free Become an EX plan is based on personal experiences from ex-smokers, as well as the latest scientific research from the experts at Mayo Clinic.

RWJF Tobacco Map

For the first time, policymakers and advocates have access to a nationwide picture of continuing state efforts on key tobacco control policies. The RWJF Tobacco Map uses data from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and the Americans for Non-Smokers' Rights and is updated as new information becomes available.

Have some news you would like to share?  Send us your updates.

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