Statewide Iowa — (RI) — Iowa is getting a failing report card for its efforts to reduce the use of tobacco products, according to the American Lung Association’s 18th annual State of Tobacco Control report.
Beth Turner, manager of health promotions for the American Lung Association in Iowa, says Iowa got F-grades in three of the report’s five key categories.
Iowa earned a D-grade for coverage and access to quit tobacco resources and a single A-grade for the strength of smokefree workplaces. That’s three Fs, a D and an A.
While the number of Iowa adults who smoke is dropping, now at around 17-percent, the number of young people who vape is rising dramatically.
About one in three high school students say they vape on a daily basis, according to the latest report. Iowa legislators are considering two measures that would toughen Iowa’s tobacco prevention efforts. One bill would follow the federal mandate to raise the minimum age for purchasing tobacco products from 18 to 21. The other measure would add the use of e-cigarettes to Iowa’s Smokefree Air Act, barring their use in most public places.
Iowa’s current state tax on cigarettes is $1.36 per pack. Turner says an effort is underway to raise that rate by $1.50 per pack. She says studies find a 10-percent increase in tobacco taxes results in a four-percent drop in consumption among adults and a seven-percent reduction in youth. See the full report at www.lung.org.
