Yale Bulletin and Calendar

June 4, 2004|Volume 32, Number 31|Three-Week Issue



BULLETIN HOME

VISITING ON CAMPUS

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

IN THE NEWS

BULLETIN BOARD

CLASSIFIED ADS


SEARCH ARCHIVES

DEADLINES

DOWNLOAD FORMS

BULLETIN STAFF


PUBLIC AFFAIRS HOME

NEWS RELEASES

E-MAIL US


YALE HOME PAGE


Yale and state officials consider ways
to promote smoking cessation

When it comes to encouraging smokers to quit, Connecticut has taken several steps recently, including increasing tobacco taxes and restricting indoor smoking.

But when it comes to actually helping smokers quit with support and effective smoking cessation programs, the state has room for improvement, according to several speakers at a recent Yale-sponsored meeting on state tobacco control.

"This is an historic missed opportunity," said Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal. "We should be ashamed. We are virtually dead last when it comes to the way we've used our tobacco funds."

In 2004, he noted, the state will take in more than $430 million in tobacco revenues, including about $322 million from tobacco taxes, and $113 million from a tobacco settlement agreement reached in 1998 with tobacco manufacturers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that Connecticut spend a minimum of $21 million on tobacco prevention in 2004. Instead, the state will spend only about $500,000, and, in 2005, it is planning on spending nothing.

At the May 18 meeting, "Setting Priorities for Connecticut Tobacco Control: Agenda for Action," state officials and Yale researchers talked about how best to further reduce smoking in Connecticut. The meeting came several days after news that New York City reduced its smoking rate by 11% in 2002, the fastest drop in smoking rates ever recorded nationally. Speakers at the meeting noted that this was accomplished in part because of the availability of effective smoking cessation programs, including a free six-week course of the nicotine patch for 35,000 people. One third of those who took advantage of that program successfully quit.

"To move ahead, we need to identify the next priorities," said Dr. Jody Sindelar, associate professor of public health and principal investigator with the Center for Nicotine and Tobacco Use Research at Yale, one of the meeting's sponsors. "To the work that has already been done, we'd like to add the research efforts of Yale."

Jerold Mande, associate director for policy at the Yale Cancer Center, another primary sponsor of the May 18 meeting, said that the meeting would serve as a starting point for an effort to copy New York's success and to bring together state tobacco and cancer control experts to write the tobacco section of the state comprehensive cancer plan.

"A tremendous amount of work has already occurred," Mande said. "Connecticut's tobacco tax and second-hand smoke laws rival New York's and are among the best in the nation. We now need to spend a small amount of the state tobacco revenue on programs that have been proven to help smokers quit."

Cheryl Mayeran of the Connecticut Department of Health, Tobacco Prevention and Control Program said that the state has a "wonderful tobacco control plan," and that it is now time to "operationalize it.

"We need to take what's perfect on paper and move it into the community," she said. "It doesn't work if we're not working together."

Several speakers said part of the problem is that anti-smoking advocates need to do more to make sure legislators are educated about the importance of smoking cessation programs. Kevin Graff, executive director of MATCH Coalition, the state tobacco control advocacy coalition, said it is important to link tobacco control to cancer in the minds of legislators.

"We need to leverage the good will and power of the cancer community to do your advocacy," he said. "They might not always listen to the tobacco control people, but they will listen to the cancer people."

Danny McGoldrick, director of research for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said that providing and promoting smoking cessation would involve several steps including:

* providing access to services and products known to work, such as counseling, nicotine replacement therapy and a smoking cessation drug called Bupropion;

* promoting those products and services through the media and community programs;

* targeting populations most at risk, including those with low incomes, low educational levels, and with a history of mental illness or substance abuse;

* engaging health care professionals;

* promoting coverage in health care plans; and

* engaging the corporate community.

McGoldrick agreed that more should be done to persuade legislators that funding smoking cessation programs is a good idea. "We haven't cracked the code when it comes to communicating with legislators," he said. "The stage is set, we are doing what we have to be doing to get people to quit," by increasing taxes and limiting indoor smoking. "But we have to provide cessation services ... and we can't just put them out there, we have to drive people to use them by marketing them."

Susan Shafir, state vice president for cancer control of the New England Division of the American Cancer Society, said that marketing the programs is a key component of making them successful. Shafir was instrumental in implementing Maine's tobacco control program, which is considered one of the best in the nation.

"Over the next year, we need to identify overlaps and communication strategies so that we can implement them together," Shafir said. "We need to leverage our resources."

Several participants pointed out that it might be difficult to mobilize smokers, because many of those still smoking are considered a marginalized population -- including poor people and people with substance abuse problems. Others said that research from the Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center at Yale, which is part of the Center for Nicotine and Tobacco Use Research, could be used to help prove to skeptics that cessation programs do work.

"My hope is that we can achieve more in the next budget cycle," Blumenthal said. "It will require intensive political grassroots work and all the education that we can muster. By beginning in this room, we can reach out to others throughout the state who can help us make this happen."

Mande said that the next step would be for the Connecticut Cancer Partnership, the state's cancer planning body, and another sponsor of the May 18 meeting, to bring the state's cancer control and tobacco control experts together to draft a proven program to help smokers quit.

Other meeting sponsors were C-Change, and The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

-- By Pem McNerney


T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

University celebrates its 303rd graduation

Levin calls for U.S. to change student visa policies

International arts festival returns to New Haven

ENDOWED PROFESSORSHIPS

New campus programs will cut costs and boost efficiency

Installation at city's historical society features tales about urban renewal

Show recalls Victorians' attempts to capture nature's wonders

Exhibit spotlights works by one of Britain's most neglected artists

Medical and nursing schools to host alumni reunions

Yale and state officials consider ways to promote smoking cessation

Poll shows state of the environment a concern for voters

Scientists identify molecule that causes irreversible nerve damage in MS

F&ES symposium will examine effects of forest certification

Campus Notes


Bulletin Home|Visiting on Campus|Calendar of Events|In the News

Bulletin Board|Classified Ads|Search Archives|Deadlines

Bulletin Staff|Public Affairs|News Releases| E-Mail Us|Yale Home