Statewide Iowa — The “State of Tobacco Control” report issued by the Iowa American Lung Association shows the state’s grades have not changed from last year.
Association advocacy director, Kristina Hamilton, says there has been one recent improvement in tobacco prevention.
The state received an F grade for providing access to services to help people quit tobacco prior to the recent change. The report also gives Iowa an F grade for ending the sale of flavored tobacco products, the level of state tobacco taxes, and the amount of funding of tobacco prevention programs.
The one area where the state gets an A grade is the Smokefree Air Law.
Hamilton says they would also like to see E-cigarettes defined and taxed as tobacco products.
She says smoking rates have dropped from 25 percent 20 years ago when they first did the report to below 16 percent now.
She says tobacco use remains our leading cause of preventable death and disease.
