An upcoming cancer forum on September 24th in Boise will feature a keynote address by Dr. Bonnie Halpern-Felsher, one of the country’s top tobacco researchers. Halpern-Felsher will speak about Big Tobacco’s strategy to hook youth into a lifetime of addiction through aggressive marketing and enticing candy, fruit and menthol flavored tobacco products.
New data released earlier this month by the Food and Drug Administration indicates that youth use of e-cigarettes in high school has skyrocketed, with a 135%increase over the past two years. Preliminary numbers show that an alarming 27.5% of high school students used e-cigarettes in the last 30 days.
The best way to combat Big Tobacco’s dangerous strategy is to pass a $1.50 per pack tax increase on cigarettes with an equivalent tax on all other tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, and use some of the revenue to educate kids on the dangers of tobacco use and to help adults quit.
The annual Idaho Policy Event, presented by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) in partnership with Blue Cross of Idaho, will focus this year on Tobacco’s Impact on Idaho Health. The event will be held at the Saint Alphonsus McCleary Auditorium September 24, 2019, from 7:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. at 1055 N. Curtis Road, Boise. Breakfast is included in the event. Tickets are $25 and registration is required. Go to www.fightcancer.org/IDPolicyForum or contact [email protected].
EVENT DETAILS:
When: Tuesday, September 24, 2019, 7:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.
Where: Alphonsus McCleary Auditorium,1055 N. Curtis Road, Boise, Idaho
Who: Keynote speaker: Dr. Bonnie Halpern-Felsher, Stanford University, Professor of Pediatrics. Founder and executive director of the Stanford Tobacco Prevention Toolkit and researcher focused on understanding and reducing adolescent tobacco use