National Report Ranks South Carolina Last in Protecting Kids from Tobacco

Ten Years After Tobacco Settlement, States Falling Short in Funding Tobacco Prevention

WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Ten years after the November 1998 state tobacco settlement,South Carolina ranks worst in the nation in funding programs to protect kids from tobacco, according to a national report released today by a coalition of public health organizations.

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South Carolina this year is scheduled to spend $1 million on tobacco prevention programs, which is 1.6 percent of the $62.2 million recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). All of this funding is from a federal grant.South Carolina is the only state that is spending no state funds on tobacco prevention this year.

Other key findings forSouth Carolina include:

    --  The tobacco companies spend more than $280 million a year on marketing
        in South Carolina. This is more than 280 times what the state spends on
        tobacco prevention.
    --  South Carolina this year will collect $114 million from the tobacco
        settlement and tobacco taxes, but will spend less than 1 percent of it
        on tobacco prevention.

The annual report on states' funding of tobacco prevention programs, titled "A Decade of Broken Promises," was released by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, American Heart Association, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Lung Association and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

South Carolina continues to lag behind other states in its efforts to protect kids from the dangers of tobacco. In addition to years of inadequate tobacco prevention funding, the state has the lowest cigarette tax in the nation at 7 cents per pack, compared to the national average of $1.19 per pack. The state has not increased its cigarette tax in two decades despite widespread support for an increase among South Carolinians. In contrast, 44 states and theDistrict of Columbia have increased cigarette taxes since Jan. 1, 2002, many more than once.

"South Carolina is the most disappointing state in the nation when it comes to funding programs to protect kids from tobacco," said Matthew L. Myers, President of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. "On this 10th anniversary of the tobacco settlement, we call onSouth Carolina leaders to raise the state's lowest-in-the-nation cigarette tax and use some of the revenue to increase funding for tobacco prevention. Tobacco prevention is a smart investment that reduces smoking, saves lives and saves money by reducing tobacco-related health care costs."

On Nov. 23, 1998, 46 states settled their lawsuits against the nation's major tobacco companies to recover tobacco-related health care costs, joining four states (Mississippi,Texas,Florida andMinnesota) that had reached earlier settlements. These settlements require the tobacco companies to make annual payments to the states in perpetuity, with total payments estimated at $246 billion over the first 25 years. The states also collect billions of dollars each year in tobacco taxes.

The new report finds that most states have broken their promise to use a significant portion of their tobacco money to fund programs to prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit.

According to the report, the states in the last 10 years have received $203.5 billion in revenue from the tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes. But they have spent only 3.2 percent of this tobacco money -- $6.5 billion -- on tobacco prevention and cessation programs.

Other findings of the report include:

    --  In the current year, no state is funding tobacco prevention at
        CDC-recommended levels, and only nine states fund their programs at even
        half of the CDC recommendation.
    --  41 states and the District of Columbia are funding tobacco prevention
        programs at less than half the CDC-recommended amount. These include 27
        states that are providing less than a quarter of the recommended
        funding.
    --  Total state funding for tobacco prevention this year, $718.1 million,
        amounts to less than three percent of the $24.6 billion the states will
        collect from the tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes. It would take
        just 15 percent of this tobacco revenue to fund tobacco prevention
        programs in every state at CDC-recommended levels.

The report warns that the nation faces two immediate challenges in the fight against tobacco use: complacency and looming state budget shortfalls. First, while the nation has made significant progress over the past decade in reducing smoking, progress has slowed and further progress is at risk without aggressive efforts at all levels of government. Second, the states are expected to face budget shortfalls in the coming year as a result of the weak economy. The last time the states faced significant budget shortfalls, they cut funding for tobacco prevention programs by 28 percent between 2002 and 2005. The cutbacks are a major reason why smoking declines subsequently stalled, and states should not make the same mistake again.

The report found that there is more evidence than ever that tobacco prevention programs work to reduce smoking, save lives and save money by reducing tobacco-related health care costs.Washington State, which has been a national leader in funding tobacco prevention, has reduced smoking by 60 percent among sixth graders and by 43 percent among 12th graders since the late 1990s. A recent study found thatCalifornia's tobacco control program saved $86 billion in health care costs in its first 15 years, compared to $1.8 billion spent on the program, for a return on investment of nearly 50:1.

InSouth Carolina, 17.8 percent of high school students smoke, and 6,300 more kids become regular smokers every year. Each year, tobacco claims 5,900 lives and costs the state $1.1 billion in health care bills.

More information, including the full report and state-specific information, can be obtained at www.tobaccofreekids.org/reports/settlements.

(NOTE: The CDC recently updated its recommended funding for state tobacco prevention programs, taking into account new science, population increases, inflation and other cost factors. In most cases, the new recommendations are higher than previous ones. This report is the first to assess the states based on these new recommendations.)

SOURCE Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids

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