HAMPTON ROADS, Va. (WAVY) — Virginia received ‘F’ grades in all but one category in the American Lung Association’s just-released State of Tobacco Control report.
The American Lung Association released the results Wednesday for its 22nd annual report. The association said the report “evaluates states and the federal government’s actions to eliminate the nation’s leading cause of preventable death — tobacco use — and to save lives with proven, effective and urgently needed tobacco control laws and policies.”
Wednesday, Digital Host Sarah Goode was joined by Aleks Casper, director of advocacy at the American Lung Association in Virginia and Dr. Amit “Dr. Bobby” Mahajan, national spokesperson for the American Lung Association and medical director for the Inova Interventional Pulmonology and Complex’s airway disease program for a live Digital Desk stream to discuss this year’s report and find out what it means for Virginia. Watch the live conversation in the video player on this page.
This year, Virginia received the following grades, listed below:
- Tobacco Prevention and Control Program Funding: F
- Tobacco Taxes: F
- Smokefree Air: F
- Access to Cessation Services: B
- Flavored Tobacco Products: F
“We’re really failing our citizens because we’re not providing these types of services. I mean these are basic services,” Mahajan said.
According to Mahajan, more patients are presenting with cases of emphysema and lung cancer. And, unless an action plan is put together, we will see those numbers rise. Even worse, the diseases will be caught later when it is more difficult to treat.
Furthermore, the report provides a plan to follow to both prevent and reduce tobacco use for individual states and the federal government.
“An opportunity to take a step back and look at known and evidence based tobacco control policies both at the national level and also, you know, at the state level,” Casper said.
The American Lung Association said health care costs due to smoking in the Commonwealth exceeds $3 billion, with 10,310 smoking attributable deaths taking place in 2023.
According to the Virginia Department of Health, about 10,300 adults die from smoking every year, 1,600 non-smokers die due to second-hand smoke, and 6,900 children have lost a parent to a smoking-related death.
“Tobacco use is the leading cause of death in Virginia and across the country and takes the lives of 10,310 residents each year,” Casper said. “The tobacco industry will do anything to protect their profits at the expense of Virginia lives, so we must push forward in our efforts to prevent and reduce tobacco use.”
Virginia is making strides in access to cessation services, following the repeal of a health insurance tobacco surcharge.
“That was something that we had we worked on for a couple of years to get it to the place where it finally passed last year,” said Casper.
Mahajan sees the uptick in patient participation, referrals to programs and education about services to the public.
“These kind of steps where we see a significant change just in a year, kind of improvement, we can continue to see that for, across the board in the near future,” said Mahajan.
Mahajan says there is a few things to take away from the report.
“One, I think Virginia has to do better. And, I think a lot of that comes from education and understanding the risks associated with smoking,” said Mahajan.
With more education, the more traction, Mahajan feels that would lead to improvements for some of these problems.
Casper shared the organization’s goals for 2024.
“This year, we are working with policymakers to focus on saving more lives by requiring retailers who sell tobacco products to have a license,” Casper said.
The report also lists the rates of smoking and tobacco in different age groups, listed below.
- Adult smoking: 12.1%
- High school smoking: 2.8%
- High school tobacco use: 15.5%
- Middle school smoking rate: 3.1%
The American Lung Association recommends these three state goals for Virginia:
- Close loopholes in the Virginia Clean Indoor Air Act to protect more residents from secondhand smoke.
- Require tobacco product retailers to obtain a license.
- Increase the cigarette tax by at least $1 per pack and create parity between the tax on cigarettes and other tobacco products.
Federal grades are higher than Virginia’s grades, but note that they have different categories. Here are the grades for the five areas, listed below.
- Federal government regulation of tobacco products: C
- Federal coverage of quit smoking treatments: D
- Level of federal tobacco taxes: F
- Federal mass media campaigns to prevent and reduce tobacco use: A
- Federal minimum age of sale for tobacco products to 21: Incomplete
They ask readers in the report to urge President Biden to take action to finalize rules to end the sale of menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars. You can find out more and take action here.
Caspar says changes take time, and they are having conversations to develop short and long term plans to address laws and policies.
View the full reports at the link here. To find out more information about the American Lung Association, visit lung.org.
