IMMEDIATE RELEASE: In the time it takes you to read this press release, Floridas kids have smoked thousands of cigarettes

Apr 23, 2009
By: Rich Rasmussen

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:   April 23, 2009 In the time it takes you to read this press release, Florida’s kids have smoked thousands of cigarettes Florida Hospital Association, Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, Florida Association of Children’s Hospitals join Sen. Ted Deutch to fight teen smoking by raising $1 surcharge TALLAHASSEE – Advocates for children’s health brought a dramatic display to the state Capitol on Thursday to represent the 576 million cigarettes smoked every year by kids in Florida.  Fifteen thousand pencils stood in for cigarettes at a rally to support a $1 increase in the surcharge on cigarettes, cigars and snuff.  The Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids joined the Florida Association of Children’s Hospitals, the Florida Hospital Association and state Sen. Ted Deutch at the rally. More than a thousand cigarettes every minute are smoked by kids in Florida, according to the Tobacco Free Florida campaign, and the 15,000 pencils represented the total cigarettes smoked statewide in the 15 minutes that the speakers addressed the crowd. “People won’t start smoking if they can’t afford to, and an extra $1 for a pack will mean fewer smokers,” said Auriel Rolle-Polk, a senior at Chiles High School in Tallahassee and a member of the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids.  “Price may be the most effective way to stop kids from smoking.” According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, higher cigarette prices leads to significant reductions in smoking.   Studies have found that a 10% price increase would decrease the number of children who smoke by as much as 10%. Sen. Ted Deutch, sponsor of the bill in the Senate to raise the surcharge on tobacco products, said that reducing smoking rates would be the most important impact of the increase. “We have an opportunity in the final week of this Legislative Session to save thousands of lives and improve the health of an entire generation,” Deutch said.  “We have come a long way, but our work is not finished.  We are calling on all of our advocates to speak up and help us make sure the $1 increase becomes state law.” Dr. Todd Patterson, medical director of the Tallahassee Memorial Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care, said that educational efforts have helped reduce smoking by pregnant women, but there are young mothers who still smoke.  Smoking is a documented cause of pregnancy complications, premature birth, low-birth-weight infants and infant mortality. “Every year, nearly 2,000 infants die prematurely, and more than 20,000 are born with low birth weight in Florida,” Patterson said.  “Maternal smoking is an enormous health risk, and our state must work harder to educate young people about the need to quit.” Smoking is not just a serious threat to life and health, it’s also a huge financial burden in Florida, said Bruce Rueben, president and CEO of the Florida Hospital Association. “Every year, Floridians absorb more than $6.2 billion in tobacco related costs, or about $586 for every household.  The biggest impact of the $1 surcharge will be lowering smoking rates, which will lower those costs over the long term,” Rueben said. Facts about youth tobacco use: Children and teenagers make up 90% of the new smokers in the United States. Each day, more than 4,000 young people between the ages of 12 and 17 try their first cigarette and another 1,140 become regular, daily smokers. Of those, about a third will die from a smoking-related disease. Approximately three million U.S. adolescents are smokers, and they smoke nearly one billion packs of cigarettes each year. 28.8 million packs of cigarettes are bought or smoked by kids in Florida each year. According to the 2008 Florida Youth Tobacco Survey: 5.0% of middle school students and 14.5% of high school students smoked cigarettes at least once during the past 30 days.  18.0% of middle school and 37.9% of high school students had tried smoking at least once. 5.3% of middle school students and 13.5% of high school students smoked cigars at least once during the past 30 days. 12.2% of middle school and 28.5% of high school students had ever smoked cigars at least once. 3.0% of middle school students and 6.0% of high school students used smokeless tobacco at least once during the past 30 days.  5.8% of middle school and 11.7% of high school students had tried smokeless tobacco at least once. Click [HERE] to download tobacco facts # # #