Tobacco-related diseases are still the leading cause of preventable
death in women, and most states are not meeting the nation's goals to
discourage women from smoking, according to a report released today by the
National Women's Law Center and Oregon Health & Science University.
Thirty-nine states earned a failing grade when judged by a list of criteria
from the Department of Health and Human Services and on the strength of their
tobacco control policies. The nation overall also earned a failing grade.
"Where we are in the United States is pretty appalling," said Dr. Michelle
Berlin, an author of the study with Oregon Health & Science's Center for
Women's Health. "The link between smoking and lung cancer is one of the
strongest we know of. Yet more women are dying from lung cancer each year than
they are from breast cancer."
Lung cancer has been the leading cause of cancer death in women since 1987,
when it surpassed breast cancer.
State Medicaid programs spend $12 billion annually treating smoking-related
diseases, according to the National Women's Law Center. However, the report
found that just seven state Medicaid programs cover comprehensive smoking
cessation efforts. Those programs are offered in Florida, Indiana, Kansas,
Maine Minnesota, Oregon and West Virginia.
The study follows a major report from the surgeon general in 2001 that
called for tougher measures nationwide to keep women from smoking and for
tighter limits on tobacco-industry advertising and promotion.
Published in the form of a report card, the new study assigned one of three
grades -- fail, unsatisfactory and satisfactory -- to the 50 states and to the
country in general. Each grade reflects whether a state or the country is on
track to meeting 11 benchmarks for reducing smoking-related diseases by 2010.
The benchmarks -- which look at the percentage of women who smoke and the
percentage who are given advice from doctors to quit, for example -- were
picked from a list of goals set by the U.S. Health and Human Services
Department.
Each state's report card includes an examination of the policies it has in
place to help women quit, like counseling hot lines and cigarette sales taxes.
The study found that only five states have an excise tax of $1.50 or more on a
pack of cigarettes, despite research showing that such taxes help reduce youth
smoking.
Two states were tied for last place, Nevada and Kentucky. Almost 30 percent
of the women in each state are smokers.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
