According to an annual report ACS CAN released today with several other public health organizations, states will spend less than two percent of this settlement money on programs to prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit. This means the states are spending less than two pennies of every dollar in tobacco revenue to fight tobacco addiction.
Tobacco control advocates had much cause for celebration yesterday! In a victory for public health, U.S. District Court Judge Gladys Kessler ordered strong corrective statements that the tobacco companies must make to explain that they deliberately deceived the American public for decades about the health hazards of their deadly products.
Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on those things for which we give thanks. I would like to express my thanks for all of the incredibly talented cancer researchers and health care professionals who are making life better for those with cancer, their families and those at risk.
Today the American Cancer Society and ACS CAN are celebrating the 37th Great American Smokeout. Each year on this day, thousands of people across the country put down their cigarettes for a day, and many make a plan to never pick them up again. However, the Great American Smokeout is also a day to draw attention to the devastating impact tobacco use continues to have on our country and how lawmakers can help to reverse it.
Tuesday marks a significant day for our country as we elect officeholders at all levels of government. Voters in Missouri have another important issue on the ballot that, if passed, could potentially save 22,000 lives a proposal to increase the state's lowest-in-the-country tobacco tax.