Handsel Art
PRESS
RELEASE
Date: 21 April 2008
For
Immediate Release
Contact: J.R. Few at
(870) 427-1365 or email
CEO
of Legacy Foundation Addresses Advocates
Representatives
of Tobacco Free Marion County joined a packed fellowship hall April 18th at the
First Missionary Baptist Church of Blytheville for the 5th annual
Saving the Lives of Arkansas’ Children Banquet honoring
the Minority Initiative Sub-Recipient Grant Office.
Hosted by the Mississippi County Coalition for a Tobacco Free Arkansas,
the evening featured Dr. Cheryl Healton CEO of the
American Legacy Foundation as Keynote speaker.
The Legacy
Foundation, a national independent public health foundation, was formed as the
result of 46 states suing the tobacco industry to recoup the tobacco related
health care burden carried by the states.
10 years after the Master Settlement Agreement only 3% of these state
funds have gone toward tobacco control.
Outlining
tobacco issues in the U.S. Dr. Healton shared, “You
could argue that the American people have the political will but the pocketbooks
of too many legislators do not. Do we
really want to live in a country where the health of our nation is for sale? “
Noting the
strong correlation between tobacco use and lower education levels and underemployment , Dr. Healton
said, “There is no question that tobacco is a social justice issue because the
people who are dying from it differ systematically from those who do not.”
Encouraging
the audience to reject the concept that nicotine addiction is a matter of choice
but rather a matter of a predatory industry she added, “An industry that knows
that as they spike nicotine levels in their product they are pretty much
guaranteed that for every 2 kids they get to start they get to keep one as a
lifelong customer until they die unnecessarily.”
Healton concluded that advocates must
continue to fight the tobacco companies and let young people know just what is
going on. “Give young people the opportunity,
to rather than smoke as an act of rebellion, to say I’m not going to get sucked
in as an act of rebellion.”
Tobacco
Free Marion County coordinator Julie Andersen and Executive Director of the
Coalition for a Tobacco Free Arkansas Katherine Donald discuss strategy before
the Saving the Lives of Arkansas’ Children banquet in Blytheville recently.
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