Health News
- Cdc Says State Spends Less Than 8% Of What It Should On Preventing Use Of Tobacco; Companies Spend 13 Times As Much
Kentucky spends only 7.6 percent of what it should spend on preventing the use of tobacco, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says in its latest annual report on the subject. The state spent $4.33 million on tobacco-control programs...
- Kentucky 's Spending Of Tobacco Settlement On Tobacco-prevention Programs Fall Far Short Of What Cdc Recommends
Kentucky ranks 39th in the country in funding programs that prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit, according to a national report from a coalition of public-health organizations. Kentucky ranks sixth in high-school smoking in the 2013 Centers...
- As National Smoking Rate Has Declined, Kentucky's Has Gone Up
Randy Jackson, 50, of Louisville, said he's smoked for 20 years. (Photo by Aaron Borton, special to The Courier-Journal)"Kentucky has failed to keep up with the nation?s gains in limiting tobacco use, outlined in the U.S. Surgeon General?s just-released...
- Kentucky Spends Less Than A Penny Of Its Tobacco-settlement Money On Prevention Programs; Few States Do Very Much
By Molly Burchett Kentucky Health News A new report says that 15 years after the 1998 state tobacco settlement, Kentucky ranks 38th in the nation in funding tobacco prevention and cessation programs, only 3.7 percent of the amount recommended by the federal Centers...
- Kentucky Ranks 36th For Tobacco Prevention Spending; Many States Have Made Cuts
Though it received $389 million in tobacco-settlement funds in fiscal year 2012, and ranks first or second in tobacco use, Kentucky spent just $2.2 million of that on prevention of tobacco use. The figures rank Kentucky 36th in the nation for helping...
Health News
Lack of statewide smoking ban represents one part of Kentucky's struggle to deal with tobacco use and the health issues it creates
By Molly Burchett
Kentucky Health News
As the bill for a statewide smoking ban lies on its deathbed in the General Assembly, new federal data show Kentucky still has the highest percentage of smokers (29 percent) of any state, leads the nation in the share of smoking high school students (24 percent) and spends only a minuscule portion of their tobacco revenues to fight tobacco use. Those figures come from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Tobacco Control State Highlights 2012 report. (For county-by-county figures, click here.)
The lack of a statewide smoking ban, which nevertheless has become popular among Kentuckians, represents only a small part of the struggle to address Kentuckians' tobacco use and resulting health problems. Kentucky's program to discourage tobacco use has been severely underfunded for years, contributing to the state's lack of or slow progress in reducing its smoking and tobacco use rates and subsequent health problems, said Dr. Ellen Hahn, director of the Kentucky Center for Smoke-Free Policy at the University of Kentucky.
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| State tobacco revenue (left bar) and spending (right bar) |
The CDC says Kentucky should spend $57.2 million a year to have an effective, comprehensive tobacco-prevention program, but the state allocates only $2.1 million a year to such programs -- 3.7 percent of the recommended amount.
By another measure, the amount is only 0.6 percent of the estimated $381 million the state gets from tobacco taxes and the 1998 national settlement with cigarette manufacturers, according to a tobacco settlement report.
By another measure, the amount is only 0.6 percent of the estimated $381 million the state gets from tobacco taxes and the 1998 national settlement with cigarette manufacturers, according to a tobacco settlement report.
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????Meanwhile, Kentucky's health-care costs attributable to smoking add up to about $1.5 billion a year, and smoking-caused productivity losses total $2.3 billion a year. These amounts do not include health costs caused by exposure to secondhand smoke, smoking-caused fires, smokeless tobacco use or cigar and pipe smoking.
Despite the known health risks that tobacco use poses, smoking in Kentucky remains a part of everyday life in most places. But that is increasingly less so around the country, so there is an increasing gap between heavy-smoking and low-smoking states; smoking in Kentucky is about twice as prevalent as in Utah and California, reports Steven Reinberg of HealthDay. Click here for an interactive map of states' tobacco prevention efforts.
There are proven, multi-pronged strategies to curb smoking. They include combinations of higher tobacco taxes, smoke-free laws, media campaigns, and restricted access to tobacco products. However, Kentucky continues to lag behind other states due to "stagnant policies" and a lack of funding, said Hahn.
Many other factors contribute to Kentucky's lack of tobacco-prevention progress. By failing to substantially reduce adult smoking, the state misses opportunities to encourage younger adults and children not to smoke, Hahn said. Kentucky needs to employ strategies that communicate the success and affordability of tobacco cessation programs, she said; people often lack the encouragement to quit smoking because they don't know how or they don't believe it is possible.
The latest tobacco report is a timely reminder that tobacco use remains a huge public health problem for Kentucky and there are proven strategies that, if implemented, could help Kentuckians live a healthier, tobacco-free life.
Kentucky Health News is an independent news service of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues at the University of Kentucky, with support from the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky.
Kentucky Health News is an independent news service of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues at the University of Kentucky, with support from the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky.
- Cdc Says State Spends Less Than 8% Of What It Should On Preventing Use Of Tobacco; Companies Spend 13 Times As Much
Kentucky spends only 7.6 percent of what it should spend on preventing the use of tobacco, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says in its latest annual report on the subject. The state spent $4.33 million on tobacco-control programs...
- Kentucky 's Spending Of Tobacco Settlement On Tobacco-prevention Programs Fall Far Short Of What Cdc Recommends
Kentucky ranks 39th in the country in funding programs that prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit, according to a national report from a coalition of public-health organizations. Kentucky ranks sixth in high-school smoking in the 2013 Centers...
- As National Smoking Rate Has Declined, Kentucky's Has Gone Up
Randy Jackson, 50, of Louisville, said he's smoked for 20 years. (Photo by Aaron Borton, special to The Courier-Journal)"Kentucky has failed to keep up with the nation?s gains in limiting tobacco use, outlined in the U.S. Surgeon General?s just-released...
- Kentucky Spends Less Than A Penny Of Its Tobacco-settlement Money On Prevention Programs; Few States Do Very Much
By Molly Burchett Kentucky Health News A new report says that 15 years after the 1998 state tobacco settlement, Kentucky ranks 38th in the nation in funding tobacco prevention and cessation programs, only 3.7 percent of the amount recommended by the federal Centers...
- Kentucky Ranks 36th For Tobacco Prevention Spending; Many States Have Made Cuts
Though it received $389 million in tobacco-settlement funds in fiscal year 2012, and ranks first or second in tobacco use, Kentucky spent just $2.2 million of that on prevention of tobacco use. The figures rank Kentucky 36th in the nation for helping...