Internet Resources on Emergency Preparedness
Tobacco Prevention
Did You Know | What Can You Do? | Consider the Following | Advocacy & Best Practices | Tobacco Prevention Resources | Legal Authority Model Statutes & Policies | Tobacco Resources
Did You Know?
- Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in the US today
- A strong collaborative relationship between health advocates and key policy makers decreases the tobacco industry’s ability to influence health policy
- There is no restriction on the state tobacco settlement money that says it has to be used for tobacco prevention or anything related to tobacco for that matter
- Of those states that have decided how to spend the tobacco settlement money, several have not put any money toward programs to prevent children from starting to smoke or on helping current tobacco users to quit
- As board of health members, you can take a stand and inform your state legislators on the impact of tobacco in your community and your position on how they should be spending the settlement dollars
What can you do?
- Form tobacco coalitions with other organizations in your community
- Establish and distribute a written position on where the tobacco settlement dollars should be spent in your state (on comprehensive tobacco prevention programs, not road repair)
- Make a phone call or write a letter to your state representatives explaining your position on where the settlement money should be spent
- Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper
- Write a letter to your local legislature
- Educate the community on tobacco related issues
Consider the following as potential coalition members:
- Boys and Girls Club Organizers
- City government staff (mayor, city council staff, city planning departments, etc.)
- Enforcement agencies (Sheriff, Police dept., D.A.R.E. Officers, community service officers, etc., and their youth coalition groups, i.e. Explorers)
- Departments of Public Health and their related agencies (Women, Infants, and Children, Bureau of Children with Medical Handicaps, Child Family Health Services, perinatal outreach, environmental health services, etc.)
- Local Boards of Education, teachers, PTA, PTO
- Other state funded agencies (Office of Alcohol and Other Drugs, etc.)
- Parks and recreation departments
- Community based organizations (American Heart Association, American Lung Association, American Cancer Society, etc.)
- Community service organizations and their agencies (shelters, clinics, foster homes, etc.)
- Chambers of Commerce
- Health educators from hospitals, managed care organizations, etc.
- Other youth based programs (Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Little League, YMCA, 4H, Future Farm Workers of America, Future Homemakers of America, etc.)
Advocacy & Best Practices
- State of Tobacco Control, 2004
- Youth Smoking Declines and Related Benefits from States Fully Funding Tobacco Prevention
- Straight Talk About Smokefree Workplace Laws (video also available))
- World Health Organization's Tobacco Free Initiative
- Information of smoke-free advocacy on the web at www.no-smoke.org/advo.html
- Center for Disease Control "Best Practices Document”
- National Association of County and City Health Officials Local "Best Practices"
Tobacco Prevention Resources
- Sustaining State Funding for Tobacco Control
- Data Highlights 2004
- Research Synopses
- Preventing Chronic Disease Electronic Journal
Legal Authority, Model Statutes & Policies
- Clean Indoor Air (CIA) Factsheets
- Boards of Health Smokefree Policy Guidelines
- Boards of Health with preemption Smokefree Policy Guidelines
- State Health Department Smokefree Policy Guidelines
- Reference Sheet
- NALBOH Excise Tax Resolution
- ASTHO, NACCHO, NALBOH Joint Policy Statement on Tobacco Use Prevention and Control
- Contact NALBOH for more information
Tobacco Resources
- Smoke-Free Environments Law Project - offers a clean indoor air regulation toolkit that includes links to sample documents and outlines the activities involved in establishing smoke-free policies in your community
- Health Consequence of Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General
- Smokefree Environments Law Project (SFELP) - provides information on legal requirements and liability issues
- Repace Associates, Inc. - Secondhand Smoke Consultants
- FDA's Compliance Checker
- Information on Master Settlement Agreement with state expenditures
