Tobacco-Free Marion County
GRASSROOTS NEWSLETTER
September-October 2007
Volume 6 Number 2
As autumn tunes up the foliage, the challenge to tobacco is
ever vigilant. TFMC has been very busy in the community. Welcome to old friends and new
advocates. In the past weeks tobacco
free advocates met with the public at the Flippin
Fire Works Festival, the Marion County Fair, the Head Start Parent meetings at
Bruno-Pyatt and Yellville-Summit, the Bruno-Pyatt Parent Involvement Night, and
Turkey Trot. In addition we’ve spoken to
the Flippin Middle School students during their Girls’ and
Guys’ Day Out.
Speaking with the public makes obvious the need for
education about the tobacco industry’s manipulation of public opinion. Rest
assured that cell phones aren’t the threat to children that secondhand smoke is
and clean indoor air laws are not the reason medical costs are soaring. As
well, nicotine addiction takes choice out of the equation. Too many of us are
still living under popular misconceptions for which the tobacco industry is
responsible. Remember this is an industry convicted of racketeering and fraud
under statutes normally reserved for organized crime.
Judge Gladys Kessler condemned the behavior of the tobacco
industry saying, "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."
In the 90’s the tobacco cartel founded smoker’s rights
groups as a political front to oppose clean indoor air laws. Leading in the ‘Accommodation’
campaign was Washington public relations firm, Burson-Marsteller.
Money was funneled into local campaigns to convey the idea that the
public health could be protected by making accommodations for secondhand smoke
and that there was some inalienable right to be addicted to tobacco. The first problem with this spin is the
abject denial of the science behind the threat to the public health from
tobacco. Newsflash: The world is not
flat! Secondly, and it may sound like an
old saw to most of you, but tobacco use is a privilege not a right. The courts have consistently ruled, using
both Due Process and Equal Protection clauses of the Constitution, that there
is no right to smoke. Communities
engaged in effective tobacco prevention have always been upheld as exercising a
reasonable and warranted protection for the public health.
Long time members
realize that TFMC, as a result of Arkansas Department of Health funding, is a
community based tobacco free coalition.
Separate grants funded tobacco free curriculum in the schools. However, this year there is no funded tobacco
control curriculum in Marion County Schools.
Responding to this underserved population we have applied for extra
funding from the Arkansas Tobacco Settlement Commission for a youth media
outreach. In addition, due to natural
attrition, Marion County is not represented in the Arkansas
Tobacco Control Youth Board. TFMC will
be increasing our advocacy to reach more of the youth in our community. These youth, we know, have been described by
the tobacco industry as “Replacement Smokers.” There is plenty of room for
advocacy with a youth perspective and voice.
For those interested in meeting one of our favorite people, Genine Perez, who directs the largely youth led Arkansas
Tobacco Control Youth Board and YES! (Youth Extinguishing Smoking)Teams are
encouraged to contact TFMC at
tfmc@marioncounty.com.
Wanted: Movers, Shakers, and Troublemakers! Speak to us!
TFMC will be developing a website soon. Be ready to advocate for a tobacco free Marion County on line, too!
Research published in the October issue of Pediatrics
reinforces evidence of the tremendous addictive capacity of nicotine. The study
involving Massachusetts teenagers between 2002 and 2006
showed that addiction can occur with just one cigarette. Advocates are aware that spit tobacco can
contain 6 to 10 times the nicotine as smoked tobacco. At this year’s Coalition for a Tobacco Free
Arkansas’ state conference, Harvard University’s Greg Connelly spoke about
research showing that the tobacco industry had actually increased the nicotine
in cigarettes in the last decade. His
emphasis was not on nicotine, per se, but the increased amount of propylene
glycol as menthol and flavoring carrier that made smoke inhalation and,
consequently, addiction easier.
Advocates will be pleased to know that this year’s CTFA Trailblazer
Award was presented to Arkansas’ Surgeon General Dr. Joe Thompson. Dr. Thompson has been the architect of most
of Arkansas’ progressive tobacco legislation
from our celebrated use of Master Settlement funds for the public health to the
Arkansas Clean Indoor Air Act. His
influence is also greatly responsible for protection for children in vehicles
from secondhand smoke, a law that has been since emulated from California to Australia. It is good to know that Joe will
be the highly placed advocate we need in our challenge to tobacco. Congratulations, Dr. Thompson!
Last spring TFMC was honored by the invitation to the media
evaluation and planning meeting for the state’s Stamp Out
Smoking campaign. In early September the
follow up meeting presented the results of this meeting. Unfortunately budget cuts have limited the
amount of new media, yet the plans involve many more opportunities for local
coalitions in the state’s campaign.
TFMC was the only local coalition invited to participate.
The National Public Health Information Coalition (NPHIC)
announced its annual Awards for Excellence in Public Health Communication in Baltimore recently. Among those recognized was TFMC media
coordinator and creative director for Handsel Art and Advertising, J.R. Few,
for print media. The ad, Seriously, focusing on protection from
secondhand smoke for children in vehicles, was honored with a Gold medal. Richard, educating the public about the
unhealthy significance of tobacco litter, was honored with a Silver medal. NPHIC member Cornelya
Dorbin, Media Director for the Arkansas Division of
Health’s Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Branch submitted Handsel’s
TFMC work in the competition.