I am pleased to share with you that U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) introduced a bill last week that would eliminate disparities in the federal tax rates for various tobacco products, a proposal that will increase federal revenues and save lives.
With almost 6 million people dying annually from smoking-related diseases, you can see how the tobacco industry has been able to earn incredible profits from addicting people to their products using manipulating, misleading practices. In fact, in 2010, the six leading tobacco companies in the world made a collective profit of $35.1 billion, the equivalent of the profits of Coca Cola, McDonalds and Microsoft combined.
Sometimes we understand things intellectually but not always emotionally. Sometimes reality needs to touch us in a more visceral way to be effective. The CDC's new ad campaign, Tips from Former Smokers, features real-life stories of people who have suffered from the harmful effects of smoking. It helps us to understand more fully the real impacts of smoking.
The report includes the latest information about the trends of youth tobacco use and its devastating impact on health. The report also details the tobacco industry's continued efforts to addict kids to its deadly products through insidious marketing and promotion directed at youth.
Big Tobacco is about to meet a challenge in the state of California. Yesterday, ACS CAN CEO Dr. John Seffrin announced a pledge to support California's Proposition 29, the California Cancer Research Act, an historic ballot initiative that would make California the second largest funder of cancer research after the U.S. federal government.
Tobacco has no place in athletics, and certainly not at any of the nation's premiere sporting events that are very popular and widely televised. That's why I'm incredibly grateful to advocates from a coalition of 10 public health groups, including ACS CAN, who were the driving force behind the Orange Bowl Committee's and National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) recent decision to cancel Camacho Cigars' sponsorship of the Orange Bowl, which will be played tonight.
Did you know tobacco use is the number one preventable cause of death in our country? Yet, our progress in the fight against Big Tobacco is being undermined, according to a report released today by a coalition of public health groups including ACS CAN.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) took an important step today to address the illegal sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products to kids. The FDA announced that it sent warning letters to more than 1,200 tobacco retailers threatening civil penalties against those selling tobacco to kids.
As you're reading this, cancer advocates are fighting a major battle against Big Tobacco in California - a battle that, if won, could save more than 100,000 lives, $5.1 billion in healthcare costs and protect nearly 230,000 kids from the dangers of tobacco.