American Cancer Society Says New York Should Up Funding for Tobacco Prevention Program

Written by Lanning Taliaferro

The American Cancer Society has good news and bad news for New York. The bad news is that New York’s cancer-prevention public policies barely get a passing grade in a new report released yesterday by the ACS Cancer Action Network.

The good news isn’t even that good: it’s that New York is one of only 10 states that are anywhere close to getting things done that clearly prevent cancer. And while New Yorkers can pat themselves on the back for doing so much, they need to reverse one disturbing public policy trend: funding for the state’s Tobacco Prevention Program has been slashed in the past five years despite continuing revenues from tobacco taxes.

“How Do You Measure up?: A Progress Report on State Legislative Activity to Reduce Cancer Incidence and Mortality” evaluates each state’s activity on issues crucial to winning the fight against cancer. New York has accomplished half the benchmarks used in the evaluation.

How Do You Measure Up? grades states on 12 policy areas: breast and cervical cancer early detection program funding; tanning device restrictions for minors; physical education time requirements; smoke-free laws; tobacco prevention program funding; tobacco tax rates and increases overtime; access to tobacco cessation services in Medicaid; increased access to Medicaid; policies to prevent and treat pain; access to palliative care and restrictions on tobacco ratings, or charging tobacco users up to 50 percent higher premiums for health coverage.

“We have the resources to reduce cancer diagnosis and deaths in the United States,” said Bill Sherman Vice President of Government Relations of the Eastern Division of ACS CAN, in a press release. “We are asking state legislators to pass laws and enact policies that have been proven to help people fight cancer by emphasizing prevention, making affordable, quality health care accessible, curbing tobacco use and prioritizing quality of life for patients and their families.”

The study’s color-coded system classifies how well a state is doing in each issue. Green shows that a state has adopted evidence-based policies and best practices; yellow indicates moderate movement toward the benchmark and red shows where states are falling short.

New York gets six greens for public policy measures:

Smoke-Free Law

Tobacco Tax Increase

Tobacco Tax Rates

Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Funding

Increased Access to Medicaid

Restrictions on Tobacco Rating

The state’s policy-makers had only one glaring red: Tobacco Prevention Funding.

According to the American Cancer Society, New York has instead cut spending in that area. “Despite receiving over $2 billion in tobacco tax revenues the Tobacco Control Program (TCP) has been cut in half over the past five years. We support increasing tobacco control funding to the $204 million level recommended by the Centers for Disease Control,” ACS CAN said.

It’s not that the state isn’t aware of the problem. Here are some fast tobacco-control facts from the NYS Department of Health.

• Every year in NYS, smoking kills 23,600 adults.
• Tobacco use is the number one cause of preventable disease and death in NYS.
• Although NYS has the fifth lowest adult smoking rate in the nation, approximately 2.4 million adult New Yorkers still smoke.
• While adult and youth smoking rates have declined in NYS, the rates for smokers with lower incomes, lower educational attainment or serious mental illness have not.
• Although NYS youth smoking rates are at their lowest recorded rates, 12,900 youth under 18 become new daily smokers each year and 107,000 NYS high school students currently smoke.
• Unless youth smoking rates continue to drop, an estimated 280,000 NYS youth under 18 now will die early from smoking.
• Over a million children in NYS are exposed to secondhand smoke in their own homes every year.
• Every year, tobacco-related health care costs New Yorkers $10.4 billion, of which Medicaid covers $3.3 billion.
• Lost productivity from smoking costs NYS more than $6 billion annually.
• Tobacco control saves lives and money. In its first year, the 2003 expansion of the Clean Indoor Air Act (CIAA) led to a significant decrease in hospital admissions for heart attacks that saved NYS an estimated $56 million.

And here’s what the state says about its Tobacco Control Program: “Since TCP’s beginning in 2000, the program has effectively implemented a strong clean indoor air law, maintained the highest state tobacco taxes in the nation to keep the price of tobacco high, strongly enforced laws that restrict minors’ access to tobacco and increased access to effective cessation services.”

View the ACS CAN complete report and details on New York State’s grades.