Thursday, November 20, 2008

Tobacco smoke - more facts for 2009

More shameful facts about smoking and the lack of support for preventative public health in South Carolina.

1. The state of SC receives $114 million from the tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes.
2. The CDC recommended SC spend $62.2 million on tobacco prevention (54.6%).
3. SC plans to spend only $1 million in 2009 (0.9% of #1) on tobacco prevention. This is from federal money, with NO state funds. This is the lowest percentage and amount in the entire U.S.A. In 2008, SC spent $3.34 million, with $2.0 milion from SC's budget plus $1.34 million from the federal budget. This is a downward trend.
4. 21.9% of adults in SC smoke, which is above the national average of 19.8%.
5. 17.8 % of teens in SC smoke.
6. In SC, 5,900 people will die from their own smoking each year.
7. The bill for caring for diseases directly caused by smoking comes to $1.09 billion per year. This cost is shared by everyone.
[Source: Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids]

What is available to help someone stop smoking? From the document below, there are "seven first-line medications (5 nicotine and 2 non-nicotine) that reliably increase long-term smoking abstinence rates:
Bupropion SR; Nicotine gum; Nicotine inhaler; Nicotine lozenge; Nicotine nasal spray; Nicotine patch; Varenicline.


• Clinicians also should consider the use of certain combinations of medications identified as effective in this Guideline. Counseling and medication are effective when used by themselves
for treating tobacco dependence. The combination of counseling and medication, however, is more effective than either alone. Thus, clinicians should encourage
all individuals making a quit attempt to use both counseling and medication." To learn which medications would be better for your individual circumstances, ask your doctor. On last point, smokers must not give up trying to quit smoking. Quitting smoking sometimes takes several attempts.

For more details, go to the CDC's Report: Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence: 2008 Update.

We must unite and do what is best for everyone and stop smoking.

1 comment:

CLINIC FOR CHILDREN - we smile with you said...

Secondhand smoke, also know as environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), is a mixture of the smoke given off by the burning end of a cigarette, pipe or cigar and the smoke exhaled from the lungs of smokers. It is involuntarily inhaled by nonsmokers, lingers in the air hours after cigarettes have been extinguished and can cause or exacerbate a wide range of adverse health effects in children, including SIDS (Sudden Death Infant Syndrome), cancer, respiratory infections, ear infection and asthma.
Children’s exposure to secondhand smoke in Indonesia may be 43 Million.Around one-third of smokers - million people continue to smoke near children.Smoking by parents is the principal determinant of children’s exposure to secondhand smoke.
Please navigate to http://savechildfromsmokers.blogspot.com , and join this group : SAVE CHILD FROM SMOKE (Facebook Group) : working together make a smoke-free homes and smoke-free zones for all children. Dr Widodo Judarwanto, Jakarta Indonesia

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