ACS CAN Marks American Cancer Society’s Great American Smokeout by Calling for Funding of New Jersey’s Tobacco Control Program
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Marc Kaplan
American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network
518-796-1038
ACS CAN Marks American Cancer Society’s Great American Smokeout by Calling for Funding of New Jersey’s Tobacco Control Program
TRENTON, NJ– November 16, 2017 – The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) marked the American Cancer Society’s 42nd annual Great American Smokeout today by calling on the New Jersey State Senate to concur with Governor Chris Christie’s conditional veto of A3338/S862, which will dedicate one percent of New Jersey’s tobacco tax revenue to the state’s Tobacco Control Program. This program provides support for New Jersey smokers trying to quit and help for others to avoid starting. The governor’s action called for a one year delay in implementation of the measure, so that it would go into effect on July 1, 2018. The bill must pass both houses again, and the assembly already has voted to concur with the conditional veto.
Only by tackling tobacco use through a comprehensive approach can we effectively overcome the country’s tobacco epidemic and prevent the more than 480,000 deaths each year caused by tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke.
The Society’s advocacy affiliate, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), supports evidence-based strategies proven to reduce tobacco use, including comprehensive smoke-free laws, increasing tobacco excise taxes and increasing and adequately funding evidence-based tobacco prevention and cessation programs.
“The Society’s Great American Smokeout is about helping people quit, and we know that investing in tobacco prevention and cessation programs is critical to helping people do just that,” said ACS CAN New Jersey Government Relations Director Brian Shott. “Nearly 70 percent of current cigarette users want to quit, and lawmakers have the ability to ensure all people have access to lifesaving programs to help them through the process. It is tragic that New Jersey has underfunded these resources for so long, despite collecting nearly $700 million in cigarette and tobacco taxes annually.”
The Society launched the Great American Smokeout 42 years ago as a platform to encourage smokers to quit. Since then, the program has expanded to not only encourage tobacco users to make a plan to quit, but also to encourage all Americans to advocate for comprehensive smoke-free laws, increased tobacco excise taxes and increased funding for evidence-based tobacco cessation programs.
According to the 2014 Surgeon General’s report, while smoking has declined over the last 50 years since the first report linking smoking to devastating diseases like cancer, cigarettes have since become more deadly and the risk of disease and death caused by smoking has not declined. In fact, smoking is now linked to at least 15 types of cancers, including liver and colorectal cancers, and today’s smokers have a higher risk of lung cancer than smokers 50 years ago.
“In New Jersey, we continue to see disparities in the smoking rates among those in disadvantaged communities,” said Shott. “It’s time to reinvest in the health of all New Jerseyans.”
The use of tobacco products remains the nation’s number one cause of preventable death, killing more than 480,000 Americans and costing $289 billion in health care costs and lost productivity annually. In New Jersey, lung cancer will be responsible for 3,760 deaths this year.
ACS CAN, the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, supports evidence-based policy and legislative solutions designed to eliminate cancer as a major health problem. ACS CAN works to encourage elected officials and candidates to make cancer a top national priority. ACS CAN gives ordinary people extraordinary power to fight cancer with the training and tools they need to make their voices heard. For more information, visit www.acscan.org.
###
