Ohio Faith United Against Tobacco News
Faith Groups Urge Gov. Strickland, Ohio Legislators to Raise Tobacco Tax to Fund Stimulus Plan and Tobacco Prevention Programs
COLUMBUS, Ohio, May 21 PRNewswire-USNewswire — A diverse coalition of Ohio faith leaders today wrote to Governor Ted Strickland and Ohio legislators urging them to increase the state's tobacco taxes in order to fully fund tobacco prevention and cessation programs at the level recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as well as help fund the proposed economic stimulus package.
"We are concerned that recent action to abolish the Ohio Tobacco Prevention Foundation leaves the state without an effective tobacco prevention and cessation program. Fortunately, an alternative exists. A 75-cent per pack increase in the cigarette tax, combined with a parallel increase in the tax on other tobacco products, would raise $390.8 million in new revenue in the first year alone. That's enough to help fund an economic stimulus package and fund tobacco prevention and cessation programs at the amount recommended by the CDC ($145 million per year)," members of the coalition, called Ohio Faith United Against Tobacco (OFUAT), wrote in the letter.
Read the full letter and list of signatures at www.tobaccofreekids.org/docs/Ohio_FUAT_Letter_2008.pdf
The faith leaders' letter comes as the Ohio Legislature recently passed and Governor Strickland signed legislation to abolish the Ohio Tobacco Prevention Foundation. Created in 2000, the Foundation was instrumental in helping prevent Ohio kids from starting to smoke and helping adult smokers quit the habit. Since its inception, smoking has been reduced by 47 percent among middle school students and by 38 percent among high school students. Adult smoking in Ohio has also declined, with 22.4 percent of adults reporting that they smoked in 2007 — a decrease from 26.3 percent in 2000.
Faith leaders and health advocates worry that this progress will stall or reverse unless Ohio's leaders implement effective measures that prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit: a significant increase in the tobacco tax as well as the tax on other tobacco products, and adequate, dedicated funding for tobacco prevention and cessation efforts.
"Research has shown us that significant tobacco tax increases are extremely effective in preventing youth from becoming future smokers because they make cigarettes too expensive to buy," said Alvin Hadley, Executive Director, Columbus Metropolitan Council of Churches. "Raising the tobacco tax and dedicating some of the revenue to tobacco prevention is the ideal solution, one that will help ensure the health of Ohio's young people and the health of our economy."
Dr. Gregory R. Wise, a member of Ohio Faith United Against Tobacco and Chief of Medical Staff at the Kettering Medical Center, served as a member of the Ohio Tobacco Prevention Foundation Board of Trustees. He recently received a letter from Governor Strickland thanking him for his service on the board and promising that through the Ohio Department of Health, his administration would be "committed to building on the programs and initiatives you helped create and administer to curtail the use of tobacco."
"We hope that Governor Strickland upholds his pledge to combat the toll of tobacco, and we will look to him and the Legislature to dedicate significant funding to tobacco prevention and cessation programs," said Dr. Wise. "We cannot abandon Ohio's children in the face of tobacco industry marketing tactics, nor can we leave smokers without assistance as they try to overcome their deadly addiction to tobacco."
The need for strong tobacco prevention and cessation programs is increasingly clear with the release of two major reports last year by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Sciences and the President's Cancer Panel. Both urged the states to implement scientifically proven measures to reduce tobacco use, including tobacco prevention and cessation programs funded at CDC-recommended levels, higher tobacco taxes and smoke-free workplace laws.
"Ohio's leaders must not ignore the CDC's expert recommendations for what Ohio needs to spend on tobacco prevention and cessation," said Sharon Becker, Health Ministries Program Coordinator for Good Samaritan Hospital. "We hope and pray that our public officials will do what is right and listen to this urgent call to raise the tobacco taxes and maintain strong tobacco prevention efforts for the sake of all Ohioans."
Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death in Ohio and the United States as a whole. Each year in Ohio, tobacco use claims 18,600 lives and costs the state $4.4 billion in health care bills, including $1.4 billion in Medicaid payments alone. Tobacco companies spend $724 million a year marketing their deadly products in Ohio, amounting to 16 times what the state now spends on tobacco prevention. Each year, more than 67,000 Ohio kids try cigarettes for the first time and an additional 20,800 kids will become new regular, daily smokers.
For more information on Ohio Faith United Against Tobacco, please visit www.ohiofaithunitedagainsttobacco.org
SOURCE Ohio Faith United Against Tobacco
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