States across the U.S. have slashed funding for programs to reduce tobacco use by 12% in the past year and 36% over the past four years, threatening the nation's progress against tobacco, according to a report released Wednesday by a coalition of public health organizations.
The report, "A Broken Promise to Our Children: The 1998 State Tobacco Settlement 13 Years Later," was issued by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, American Heart Association, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Lung Association, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights.
The annual report assesses whether states have kept their promise to use tobacco settlement funds -- expected to total $246 billion over the first 25 years -- to fight tobacco use.
During fiscal year 2012, the states will collect a near-record $25.6 billion in revenue from the 1998 state tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, but will spend only 1.8% of it -- $456.7 million -- on programs to prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit, according to the report.
Both the total amounts states are spending on tobacco prevention programs and the percentage of tobacco revenue spent on these programs are the lowest since 1999, when the states first received significant tobacco settlement funds. With nearly 20% of Americans still smoking, the report warns that continued progress against tobacco use is at risk unless states increase funding for tobacco prevention and cessation programs.
The report also calls on the federal government to launch a national tobacco prevention and cessation campaign, including a mass-media campaign and support for telephone quit lines, as the Obama Administration proposed in its Tobacco Control Strategic Action Plan. It also calls for preservation of the Prevention and Public Health Fund, created by the healthcare reform law to support such disease prevention initiatives.
The report comes as recent surveys have found that smoking declines in the U.S. have slowed. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently reported that the adult smoking rate in 2010 was 19.3%, only a small decline since 2004 when 20.9% smoked. While smoking among high school students has declined by 46% from a high of 36.4% in 1997, 19.5% still smoke, according to the CDC.
