Tobacco-Free Marion County
GRASSROOTS
NEWSLETTER
March-April
2005
Volume 3 Number 5
Dear TFMC Members,
Thank you
for your continuing interest and activism in tobacco prevention in Marion County.
Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death, and exposure to
secondhand smoke is ranked third. You
can help change this by challenging the social norm which accepts tobacco use in
your environment without question. Remember,
“It’s not what you know, but what you do with what you know, that counts.”
Legislative Updates
As of this
writing time, there are many tobacco-specific issues being discussed in the Arkansas 85th General
Assembly. You can study these issues online at the Arkansas legislative website, http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/ or sign up with the Coalition for a Tobacco
Free Arkansas for information and action alerts by writing them at news@arfreshair.com with “subscribe” in
the subject line.
z
Did
you know that House Bill 1883 is being discussed which would create a level
playing field for all restaurants? It
would create a statewide smokefree restaurant
standard while exempting bars. In the
next week or so a decision will be made, with or without your input. As little as 5 minutes’ exposure to
secondhand smoke is enough to begin the body’s processes toward heart
disease. Think of the waiters and
waitresses who have to spend 8 hours a day, 5 days a week in this toxic cloud!
z
The
bill that would end smoking in or near state buildings and vehicles sailed
through the House Rules Committee; next stop, discussion in the full House
of Representatives. HB 2684 will clarify smoking regulations among state
agencies and set an example for the rest of the state that smokefree
workplace policy saves lives.
z
A
new law that ensures smokefree air in and around all Arkansas hospitals will go into effect in
October 2005.
z A bill to follow the state of New York’s successful example and demand
that fire-safe cigarettes be sold in Arkansas didn’t receive much attention, but
may yet this year be discussed more widely.
The tobacco industry has already developed the technology and these
cigarettes which extinguish themselves instead of smoldering when left untended
are the only cigarettes allowed to be sold in New York.
According to the National Fire Protection Association, cigarette-caused
fires are the nation's #1 cause of fire death, causing more than 1,000
civilian deaths, 3,000 critical injuries, and $400 million in property
damage each year.
z Neighboring Baxter County has a group of advocates encouraging residents to vote in county-wide smokefree worksite regulations; if successful, they’ll join
the cities of Fayetteville and Highfill.
Pine
Bluff and Little Rock are also weighing the issue. As
of January, 4,831 municipalities in the U.S have laws that provide for smokefree air. Seven states-- CA, DE, NY, CT,
ME, MA and RI-- require all workplaces, including restaurants and
bars/nightclubs, to be smokefree. Four
additional states-- FL, VT, UT, and ID-- require all restaurants to be smokefree, but exempt bars/nightclubs. Entire countries have smokefree
workplace laws: Italy, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, New Zealand, Malta, Uganda, and Bhutan.
If you’re interested in learning more about progressive smokefree legislation, contact Joe Cherner
at
JoeCherner-announce-subscribe@smokefree.net
or Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights at http://www.no-smoke.org/
.
Local Heroes
Congratulations
to J.R.Few,
local tobacco prevention activist, for being asked to speak at a press
conference at the State Capitol Rotunda last week regarding the importance of smokefree workplaces!
Both the
length and quality of ours and our children’s lives are improved by smokefree air. And,
no, spit tobacco is not a safe alternative to smoking. Congratulations
to the 29 Marion County quitters since November 2004 who have enrolled in
the QuitSmart Tobacco Cessation classes facilitated
by certified volunteers Jerry Strobel, Pinky Few, Pat Henley, and Melba Kinard; sponsored by the Marion County Senior Center, Breadeaux Pizza,
Ranger Boats, and MicroPlastics. QuitSmart classes
are also available through the Baxter and Newton coalitions, and the Boone coalition
offers face-to-face counseling, too.
Know someone who wants to quit?
Have them contact our office for details. The Arkansas Department of Health offers a
24/7 Quit Line, with trained telephone counselors who are ready to help tobacco
users kick the habit, just by calling 1-866-NOW-QUIT. Ask your physician for help. Check out the American Cancer Society website,
or if you’re a teen, www.gottaquit.org . If you’re pregnant or thinking about it and
using tobacco, please quit and encourage
any tobacco users in your environment to join you. Children born to women who have been exposed
to smoke (either smokers or by secondhand smoke) have chemicals from nicotine
metabolism in their systems at birth. If smokers already have children, “…parents who quit smoking by the time their
children are 8 or 9 years old may help prevent their children from becoming
adolescent smokers and, if they do start, may help them quit smoking in young
adulthood," according to Jonathan Bricker, clinical instructor in the
University of Washington Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.
Recently
the University of Arkansas Family and Consumer Science Agents for Marion and Baxter Counties provided childcare education
classes to interested individuals and licensed daycare providers in our region.
I’d like to thank Renee Myers for the opportunity to present this population with
information about the impact of secondhand smoke on children, and to thank the
participants for taking the information to heart and educating the parents of
their young charges about the increased incidence of earache, asthma,
bronchitis, diminished lung capacity, heart function impairment, etc. that
children suffer as a result of secondhand smoke exposure.
In their
beginning-of-the-school-year take home packs, all the Head Start parents at Bruno-Pyatt,
Yellville-Summit, and Flippin were given EPA smokefree home pledge materials, cessation resource guides
for Marion County residents, and ADH coloring books
to facilitate early childhood smokefree
education. Thanks in advance to the Head Start teachers whom we’ll soon be
contacting to ask them to ask these parents if this information has made a
difference in their behavior, whether they ensure their children have smokefree air to breathe.
Another
youth-oriented project in the works is to take information to our Marion County tobacco retailers encouraging them
to continue educating their clerks to refuse to sell tobacco to minors. We
applaud those retailers who do not put up child-eye-high tobacco advertising,
who keep all their tobacco products behind the counter, and who diligently
check ID’s. If you witness a tobacco
sale to a minor, please take the time to make the free call to the Arkansas
Tobacco Control Board’s anonymous hotline to report it: 1-877-ID-TEENS. The ATCB offers training for wholesale and
retail owners and clerks to help them learn how to comply with the law.
Tobacco-Free Marion County PO Box 188 Pyatt, AR 72672
(870) 427-2620
tfmc@marioncounty.com