Tobacco-Free Marion County

GRASSROOTS NEWSLETTER

September-October 2006Volume 5  Number 2

 

Autumn always has a feeling of beginning, perhaps because of the harvest or the new school year.  This fall in Arkansas has a whole new perspective with laws guaranteeing smoke free air in public spaces and most workplaces. If you smell tobacco smoke in public call 1-800-235-0002 or go to www.arcleanair.com to register non-compliance that will lead to an inspection from the Department of Health and a hearing from the Board. The process is intent upon education well before prosecution. That doesn’t mean we should not stand up for our right to breathe where ever it is challenged.  Penalties for noncompliance with Act 8 range up to $1,000 per violation compiled consecutively. Businesses do not profit from subsidizing the tobacco cartel by allowing public smoking even before potential penalties accrue.

 

Only in America can an industry be found guilty of fraud and racketeering and see their stock rise.  This was the case with the RICO suit the Justice Department won against tobacco just recently.  Judge Gladys Kessler had this to say in her decision against the tobacco cartel:

 

"Over the course of more than 50 years, defendants lied, misrepresented, and deceived the American public, including smokers and the young people they avidly sought as 'replacement smokers,' about the devastating health effects of smoking and environmental tobacco smoke... They suppressed research, they destroyed documents, they manipulated the use of nicotine so as to increase and perpetuate addiction, they distorted the truth about low-tar and light cigarettes so as to discourage smokers from quitting, and they abused the legal system in order to achieve their goal -- to make money with little, if any, regard for individual suffering, soaring health costs, or the integrity of the legal system." 

 

Pretty damning, huh?  However, an appeals court ruled earlier that remedies must be forward looking and could not affect past profits leaving Judge Kessler little room for handing down monetary awards.  The decision will make the industry issue “corrective statements” regarding the dangers of low tar and light cigarette claims, the addictive properties of nicotine, and the hazards of secondhand smoke. The tobacco cartel will be prohibited from using brand descriptors like “low tar,” “light,” “ultra light,” “mild,” “natural,” and any other words which may imply a lower risk of disease or less hazard. All documents must be available to defendants for the next 15 years and all legal fees for the case will be paid by the industry.

 

A short history of this landmark case recounts an origin in the Clinton administration’s Justice Department soon after the MSA.  The Bush administration, heavily supported by the tobacco cartel, inherited the case and surprisingly chose to continue the suit which sought to disgorge past profits of $286 billion. In 2005 appellate decisions then ruled that any remedies must be forward looking so the Justice Department revised demands to reflect a nationwide cessation and counter marketing program worth $135 billion over 25 years.  Just days before the trial was set to recess for deliberation a political appointee to the Justice Department, Michael McCallum, a former lawyer for the tobacco industry, ordered litigators to reduce their requested remedies by 90% to $14 billion over 5 years,  The chief litigator Sharon Eubanks resigned in protest and McCallum was named ambassador to Australia.

 

And to make things even better the Massachusetts Department of Health revealed last month that the industry has actually been increasing the amount of nicotine in cigarettes from 10 to 20% making it easier to addict new smokers and harder for addicts to quit.

 

You can’t make this stuff up.

 

 

In late August TFMC representatives had the honor and opportunity to represent Yellville Mayor Janell Kirkwood while addressing the Arkansas Municipal League’s Health Benefit Fund Board on cessation benefits during their meeting in Eureka Springs at the Crescent Hotel.  We are proud to announce that the board has voted to support the Division of Health Quitline and cessation opportunities for all its members.  Further information will be forthcoming in their City and Town Magazine.

 

On September 14th TFMC attended the Coalition for a Tobacco Free Arkansas Striking Out Tobacco in Arkansas state conference acting as presenters for a workshop on Smoke Free Housing issues.  The keynote speaker for the event was the as always dynamic Brenda Bell Caffee.  Ms. Caffee gave an inspiring overview of the past decades of tobacco control from televised smoking on the I Love Lucy show to the first smoke free laws in San Louis Obispo, and the marketing of tobacco to women.  She noted the trend of federal efforts to challenge the tobacco industry had stopped abruptly in 2000 and it was now up to the states to protect their citizens from a rogue industry.  She lauded Arkansas’ Clean Indoor Air Act but noted that there was still plenty of work to do.

 

 Ms. Caffee gave special mention to the way Arkansas has spent MSA funds on prevention and health care.  “You have to keep educating your legislators,” she said, “because there is always going to be someone who wants to build a road with this money.  You still aren’t spending the minimum of what the CDC recommends and children are still beginning to smoke every day.”

 

TFMC volunteer J.R. Few was honored at the conference as the Tobacco Control Advocate of the Year with the CTFA 2006 Trailblazer Award.  Pinky coordinates TFMC’s media and works with various smoke free advocacy groups around the state.

 

We’ve started our community outreach for this grant year with a table at the Fair and hosting a booth at the Hillbilly Chili Cook Off in Lakeview. TFMC will also have a booth at this year’s Turkey Trot.  We made a great volunteer showing last year and look forward to any help our members can provide.  We always have a good time and education is an ongoing process.  If you want to help with the booth this year please get in touch.   Our office # is 870-427-2620, or e-mail tfmc@marioncounty.com .

 

As always, we know that effective tobacco prevention involves creating smoke free environments, significantly increasing tobacco taxes, and marketing reform reducing youth access.  While cessation may be treatment rather than prevention, it is essential.  Please share the quit line 1-866-NOW-QUIT with anyone who is addicted to nicotine.  If not for today maybe tomorrow, if not for themselves for their families; we all deserve smoke free air.

 

 

 

 

Tobacco Free Marion County

Po Box 188

Pyatt AR 72672