New Report: Failure by Southeastern State Legislators on Tobacco Policies Leads to Higher Tobacco Use, Greater Cancer Burden

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New Report: Failure by Southeastern State Legislators on Tobacco Policies

                  Leads to Higher Tobacco Use, Greater Cancer Burden

Increasing West Virginia’s cigarette tax by $1.50 or more per pack

represents state’s biggest opportunity to save lives from cancer  

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – August 3, 2017 – State legislatures in West Virginia and 11 other Southeastern states are contributing to the region’s increased cancer burden by failing to implement evidence-based policies to reduce and prevent tobacco use, according to a report released today by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN). The result of this inaction has led to some of the highest tobacco use rates in the country and contributed to cancer death rates that are significantly above the national average.

The report, How Do You Measure Up?, shows that Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia failed to earn a single “green” rating in any of the three critical tobacco control measures.  This means that the states have failed to pass legislation which have proven to protect adults and youth from the leading preventable cause of death in the country.

Nearly one-third of cancer deaths in West Virginia are a direct result of tobacco use, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS). Given this, the state’s biggest opportunity to save lives and reduce health care costs would be increasing the price of tobacco products by $1.50 or more per pack of cigarettes. 

“West Virginia’s excise tax on cigarettes is significantly below the national average and ranks only 33rd in the country,” said Juliana Fredericks, government relations director for ACS CAN in West Virginia.  “The time has come for our elected officials to recognize that a significant increase to the tobacco tax would not only lower tobacco-use rates but also have the added benefit of saving the state millions of dollars in health care costs.”

Based on data from the National Vital Statistics System from 2010 to 2014, the lung cancer mortality rate in the 12 Southeastern states combined is about 20 percent higher than it is in the rest of the country. According to ACS, cigarette smoking causes more than 25 percent of cancer deaths in every state other than Utah and up to 40 percent of cancer deaths in men in several Southeastern states.

“Tobacco control policies are an effective public health tool that have been sorely underutilized, especially in the Southeast,” said Cathy Callaway, director of state and local campaigns for ACS CAN. “It will be impossible for the country to address the tobacco-related cancer burden unless all states, especially those in the Southeast, take a far more active role in implementing policies that will discourage the use of tobacco products.”

Research has proven there are evidenced-based policy solutions which can reduce the use of tobacco products. These solutions include increasing the price of tobacco through regular and significant tobacco tax increases, implementing comprehensive smoke-free policies and fully funding and implementing statewide tobacco prevention and cessation programs in accordance with best practice recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The average cigarette tax in the Southeastern U.S. is only 75 cents per pack, which is nearly a dollar less than the national average of $1.69 per pack.  And, none of the 12 states has a tax above the national average.

Additional analysis on the tobacco burden in the Southern states reveals:

• Based on data from 2010-2014, 11 of the 12 Southeastern states have a cancer mortality rate above the national average (166.1 per 100,000), including six with the highest rates in the country –Kentucky (201.5), Mississippi (197.3), West Virginia (194.5), Louisiana (191.0), Arkansas (189.2), and Tennessee (188.2).

• Nearly one-third (31 percent) of lung cancer deaths in 2017 are projected to occur in the Southeast, despite the fact only one-quarter of the population lives in the region.

• Ten of the 12 Southeastern states included in this analysis have adult smoking rates that are higher than the national average (17.5 percent), including four with the highest rates in the country – Kentucky (26 percent), West Virginia (25.7 percent), Arkansas (24.9 percent), and Mississippi (22.6 percent).

• The percentage of cancer deaths caused by cigarette smoking is above the national average (28.6 percent) in 11 of 12 Southeastern states, even accounting for more than one-third of total cancer deaths in Kentucky (34 percent) and Arkansas (33.5 percent). (West Virginia’s percentage of cancer deaths caused by cigarette smoking is 32.6%.)

• Annual smoking-related health care costs in the 12 Southeastern states total $32.38 billion, not including lost productivity due to premature death and exposure to secondhand smoke. (West Virginia spends approximately $1 billion annually in tobacco-related health care costs.)

• The 12 Southeastern states are projected to collect nearly $5.3 billion in tobacco revenues in 2017 yet spend only $118.6 million on tobacco prevention programming. (Note: One state – Florida -- accounts for more than half -- $67.8 million -- of the total amount spent on tobacco prevention programming in the South.)

A color-coded system classifies how well a state is doing in each issue. Green shows that a state has adopted evidence-based policies and best practices; yellow indicates moderate movement toward the benchmark and red shows where states are falling short.