The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is launching a campaign to educate retailers and raise awareness about tobacco product regulations designed to protect kids from the dangers of tobacco use. They have created a number of campaign materials to help spread the word. Find the materials on the following link:
http://www.fda.gov/TobaccoProducts/ResourcesforYou/BreakTheChain/default.htm
In an effort to continually educate and inform staff, advocates, and youth about tobacco prevention and cessation, the following events were hosted or attended by ADH:
The ADH Office of Oral Health and the Arkansas Oral Health Coalition sponsored the bi-annual Governor’s Oral Health Summit on June 18. The subject matter highlighted the various grant-funded opportunities to improve oral health in Arkansas. Topics included smokeless tobacco cessation, dental sealant programs, family violence awareness and dental workforce issues.
Featured at the program were two specialists in smokeless tobacco. Jack Henningfield, PhD of Johns Hopkins University, who specializes in addictive drugs, presented Smokeless Tobacco: Addictive by Nature and Design. Greg Connolly, DMD, MPH of Harvard University School of Public Health, who specializes in tobacco product design, marketing, and tobacco control interventions, presented Fighting Smoke with Fire.
TPCP followed up with summit participants by sending a mass mailing to encourage them to continue support of their patients’ tobacco cessation efforts. The mailing included fax pads, Quitline cards, and educational pamphlets.
Dr. Jack Henningfield and Dr. Greg Connolly
Youth advocates in Arkansas, the TCYB & Y.E.S. Teams, hosted the eighth Say Y.E.S. Leadership & Advocacy Training Conference in Little Rock on June 11-12. The workshops educated youth on tobacco control and health, and how big tobacco uses money and power to manipulate the truth.
Attendees of Say Y.E.S. Conference
In early May, the Arkansas Department of Health and state law enforcement joined forces at a press conference to alert Arkansans that local police will be on the lookout for drivers smoking in cars with children, and they will be pulled over and fined. To raise awareness statewide, media events were held in Fayetteville, Little Rock and Jonesboro, and a demonstration was conducted to exhibit just how dangerous secondhand smoke can be to children, especially in cars. ADH helped raise awareness of Act 13 of 2006 by delivering the message that it is a primary offense to smoke in a car carrying children under the age of 6 and weighing less than 60 pounds.
See below the coverage the event received:
http://www.katv.com/news/stories/0510/733310.html
http://www.todaysthv.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=104163&catid=2
http://www.fox16.com/news/local/story/Smoking-while-driving-with-kids-could-lead-to-fine/Qlohedjwm0a66DcnYvdb1g.cspx?rss=315
http://www.kait8.com/Global/story.asp?S=12441527
http://nwahomepage.com/fulltext-news?nxd_id=162505
On August 1, 2010, a new Arkansas law will make it illegal to smoke on all state-supported college and university campuses. The Arkansas Clean Air On Campus Act of 2009 places Arkansas in a unique position to take national leadership in providing healthy learning environments. The Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program of the Arkansas Department of Health provided support to these campuses by distributing toolkits to answer questions, give ideas for enforcement, and prepare students, faculty, staff and visitors for the new legislation. TPCP welcomes the opportunity to partner with you and offer its assistance to help your local campus adjust to the upcoming changes.
Staff at TPCP will soon be requesting feedback and evaluation comments on the helpfulness of the toolkits. Click here to see the toolkit: http://www.stampoutsmoking.com/programsFull.html#oxygenProject
Last May, 800 individuals from the general public were polled by the Arkansas Department of Health to measure awareness of the Stamp Out Smoking campaign. We found that people are increasingly recalling the Quitline number accurately and that 79 percent of Arkansans were familiar with the SOS campaign. Further, we found that advertisements featuring children had the highest recall.
According to survey results, eight out of 10 respondents reported having heard of the SOS campaign; 23 percent reported being either very or extremely familiar with the SOS campaign, a minimal increase from the 2008 results. TV ads were most effective with a 64 percent recall. Radio had lower recall than TV, but an increase in recall over 2008. Print ads had a slight decrease, but the recollection of the SOS logo was comparable to previous years. Because this was the first year for SOS to include online advertising in its ad recall survey, the online ads had low recall.
SOS will continue its media campaign for fiscal year 2011 by focusing on encouraging cessation and secondhand smoke messages. The campaign takes into consideration what is most effective in reaching those who want to quit so as to continue to reach and increase its audience.
Check out the ads on the SOS media page: http://news.sosenews.com/index.php/category/media-gallery/
Effective June 22, new regulations prohibit the tobacco industry from selling or distributing tobacco products for which the label or advertising contains descriptors such as “light,” “low” or “mild.” More information from the CDC can be found on this topic at www.cdc.gov/features/tobaccocontrols/.
In celebration of World No Tobacco Day on May 31, Stamp Out Smoking is encouraging Arkansas tobacco users to quit by calling the Arkansas Tobacco Quitline at 1-800-QUIT-NOW. The World Health Organization holds World No Tobacco Day every year to raise awareness of the harms of tobacco, the marketing tactics of the tobacco industry and resources available to help people quit.
The theme of the 2010 World No Tobacco Day is “gender and tobacco with an emphasis on marketing to women.” The World Health Organization notes that women comprise about 20 percent of the world’s more than 1 billion smokers, and its recent report on women and health points to evidence that tobacco advertising increasingly targets girls.
“World No Tobacco Day is an opportunity for us to join together with tobacco control partners across the globe to decrease tobacco use and its impact on our communities,” said Dr. Carolyn Dresler, program director of the Arkansas Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program. “Tobacco use has potentially deadly consequences, and we want to make sure Arkansans are informed about the effects and available quitting resources so they can make the best choices for their health.” (more…)
The Arkansas Department of Health and state law enforcement joined forces at a press conference today to alert Arkansans that local police will be on the lookout for drivers smoking in cars with children, and they will be pulled over and fined. The press conference kicked off a statewide campaign to increase enforcement and raise awareness of Act 13, which makes it a primary offense to smoke in a car carrying children under the age of 6 and weighing less than 60 pounds.
“It is our job to ensure Arkansans follow the law,” said Chuck Lange, executive director of the Arkansas Sheriffs Association. “Law enforcement all over the state are committed to protecting the innocent lungs of Arkansas children by ramping up enforcement of Act 13.”
Act 13, also known as the Arkansas Protection from Secondhand Smoke for Children Act, was passed in 2006. Arkansas was the first state in the nation to pass a law extending protection from secondhand smoke to cars, a law that has now been adopted by states such as Louisiana, Maine and California. Violators of the law can avoid a fine on a first offense if they enroll in a program to quit tobacco.
“Secondhand smoke is extremely dangerous, especially to young children in a confined space,” said Dr. Paul Halverson, director and state health officer of the Arkansas Department of Health. “There is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke”. (more…)
The Arkansas Tobacco Quitline offers 10 free one-on-one phone sessions with a trained Quit CoachÒ for pregnant women who use tobacco, a more intensive program than for callers who are not pregnant. Quit Coaches offer personalized, motivational counseling for tobacco users. In 2008, Arkansas mothers smoked during pregnancy in 15.3 percent of total births, according to the Arkansas Department of Health, Health Statistics Branch.
Tobacco use has dangerous health effects on mother and child, including increased risk of allergies, asthma, lung problems and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. The Quitline’s additional services aim to curtail this problem.
“We know the support of Quitlines greatly increases smokers’ chances of quitting,” said Dr. Carolyn Dresler, program director of the Arkansas Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program.
Stamp Out Smoking Announces Winners
Of 2010 Coloring Contest
Contest Reaches More Than 28,000 Students in Arkansas
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (April 19, 2010) – The Stamp Out Smoking coloring contest received more than 28,000 entries from more than 100 schools across the state in its first year of implementation through elementary schools. The contest was open to Arkansas students in kindergarten through fifth grades and allowed them to color artwork featuring the Clean Air Avengers team of superheroes for a chance to win cool prizes such as a Wii, Nintendo DS or portable DVD player. The winning artwork can be viewed at stampoutsmoking.com.
The school that submitted the most entries and will receive $1,000 to purchase art supplies is Malvern Elementary School with a total of 839 entries. The individual winners of the 2010 coloring contest are as follows:
Kindergarten:
1st – Summer Victor, Arnold Drive Elementary School, Jacksonville
2nd – Jonathan Condor, Crestwood Elementary School, North Little Rock
3rd – Maddie Welborn, Elza R. Tucker Elementary School, Lowell
First Grade:
1st – Kayla Richardson, Wickes School District, Wickes
2nd – Jacob Duran, Eastside Elementary School, Warren
Second Grade:
1st – Janessa Xayavongsa, Morrison Elementary School, Fort Smith
2nd – Edgar Guerrero, Malvern Elementary School, Malvern
3rd – Madison McCorkle, Malvern Elementary School, Malvern
Third Grade:
1st – Zachary Skinner, Theodore Jones Elementary School, Conway
2nd – Ryan Davis, Jimmy Brown Elementary School, Star City
3rd – Bethany Crum, Park Avenue Elementary School, Stuttgart
Fourth Grade:
1st – Jasmine Scheer, Magnet Cove Elementary School, Malvern
2nd – Logan Gilbert, Ouachita Elementary School, Donaldson
3rd – Grace Dodson, Nemo Vista Elementary School, Center Ridge
Fifth Grade:
1st – Dawson Hamilton, W.T. Cheney Elementary School, Pine Bluff
2nd – Kayla Hernandez, Elza R. Tucker Elementary School, Lowell
3rd – John Paul Zambrano, Wilson Intermediate School, Malvern
“We were blown away by the success of the coloring contest this year,” said Dr. Carolyn Dresler, program director for the Arkansas Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program. “We hope it was an enjoyable program for students and teachers, but more importantly, we are grateful for the discussions spurred in schools about the dangers of tobacco.”
The SOS coloring contest is one of many SOS prevention programs that aim to keep youth from starting to use tobacco. Prevention programs have proven to be a key component in driving down youth smoking rates. Teachers from participating schools commented that the contest was an easy way to address important health issues in their classes.
“[My students] may not all be winners of your few prizes, but they are all winners by having participated in this contest,” said Adria Ozmun, art teacher at Malvern Elementary School. “Thank you so much for this teachable moment.”
Cigarette smoking among high school students in Arkansas has declined from 43.2 percent in 1997 to 20.7 percent in 2007. Through participation in contests such as the SOS coloring contest, “The Big Pitch” drama contest and the Healthy Hero essay contest, or in youth advocacy groups such as the Youth Extinguishing Smoking Team, Arkansas youth are helping change social and behavioral norms.
About Stamp Out Smoking
SOS is the media and public education campaign of the Arkansas Department of Health Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program. SOS funds the Arkansas Tobacco Quitline, which provides cessation counseling and free nicotine replacement therapy medications for adults, in addition to operating youth prevention and tobacco control coalitions across the state.
# # #
