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Iowa Department of Public Health: Cigarette sales drop 52 percent, but teens still at risk
3/8/2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 8, 2010

Contact:

Cathy Callaway, 515-250-1647, Cathy.Callaway@cancer.org

Gary Streit, 319-365-9461, gjs@shuttleworthlaw.com

Cigarette sales drop 52 percent, but teens still at risk

Report highlights effectiveness of laws, youth awareness

Iowans are smoking less, though young people continue to be at risk for starting. That’s according to a report released today by the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH).

Conducted by the University of Northern Iowa’s Center for Behavioral Research, the 2009 Tobacco Control Progress Report shows that Iowa and the state health department have made a number of advances in reducing smoking since 2000. Most recently, the report finds there has been a dramatic decrease in cigarette consumption in Iowa. Data from the Iowa Department of Revenue show that cigarette sales in Iowa remained steady from 2000 to 2006. Since that time, however, per capita consumption of cigarettes has plummeted from 112 to 54 in 2009.

“The fact that Iowans are smoking half as many cigarettes now is clearly attributable to the $1 cigarette excise tax in 2007 and the 2008 Smokefree Air Act,” said Cathy Callaway, chair of the Iowa Tobacco Use Prevention & Control Commission. “The importance of policies like these in improving health and saving lives cannot be underestimated.”

Unfortunately, efforts to reduce tobacco use among young Iowans have slowed in the past few years. Despite impressive declines in youth smoking in Iowa since 2000, the report shows that success has slowed. For example, cigarette use among high school students (at 19.9 percent) in 2008 was roughly the same level it was in 2004 (19.5 percent). Among middle school students, use was down only slightly from 3.6 percent in 2006 to 2.8 percent in 2008.

“It’s important to point out that awareness of Iowa’s youth-led tobacco counter-marketing campaign, JEL (Just Eliminate Lies), fell during this period,” Callaway said. “Studies show there’s a direct correlation between exposure to state-sponsored anti-tobacco advertisements and anti-smoking attitudes, beliefs and smoking prevalence. Simply put, the fewer ads JEL produces, the lower the awareness among children. That’s a major contributor to the limited success we’re seeing in the JEL program’s goal to prevent tobacco use among youth.”

Among high school students, 85 percent had heard of JEL in 2004. Four years later, however, that number dropped to 61 percent. The decrease in awareness was even more dramatic among middle school students, as it decreased from 54 percent in 2004 to 30 percent in 2008.

Data from more than 60 sources were reviewed in producing the Iowa 2009 Tobacco Progress Report. For more information, visit http://www.idph.state.ia.us/tobacco and look under “Tobacco Program Evaluations and Progress Reports.”


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