| For Immediate Release February 01, 2006 |
Contact: Jennifer Friedman 202.296.5469 |
Mark Herring, Endorsed by Tobacco-Free Kids Action Fund, Elected to Virginia State Senate
Washington, DC - Voters in Virginia's 33rd Senate District have elected Mark Herring, who was endorsed by the Tobacco-Free Kids Action Fund, to the Virginia Senate. The Tobacco-Free Kids Action Fund endorsed Herring for his commitment to protecting kids from tobacco and reducing its devastating toll in Virginia. The policies that Mark Herring support will make a real difference for Virginia by helping to reduce smoking, save lives and save money by reducing smoking-caused health care costs.
Herring has pledged to be a champion of policies prescribed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to reduce smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke, including smoke-free workplace laws and effective programs to help smokers quit and prevent kids from starting in the first place. Virginians can rest assured that their health will continue to be a priority under the leadership of Mark Herring.
Virginia has a long way to go in protecting its citizens from tobacco. Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death in Virginia, claiming more than 9,200 lives each year and costing the state $1.92 billion annually in health care bills, including $369 million in Medicaid payments alone. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that smoking-caused health expenditures and productivity losses cost Virginia $6.17 for every pack of cigarettes sold in the state. Government expenditures related to tobacco amount to a hidden tax of $543 each year on every Virginia household. Some 21 percent of Virginia high school students are current smokers, and 13,700 more kids become regular smokers every year.
The good news for Virginia is that the state's leaders can play an active role in reducing the terrible health and economic toll of tobacco by implementing the following proven policy solutions:
Tobacco prevention and cessation programs: These programs, which include school and community programs, advertising and programs to help smokers quit, are proven to reduce smoking, save lives and save taxpayers money by reducing smoking-caused health care costs. States with effective prevention programs have cut youth smoking rates by as much as 50 percent in just a few years. Such programs have also been shown to save as much as $3 in smoking-caused health costs for every dollar spent on prevention. Virginia currently allocates $13 million a year to the Virginia Tobacco Settlement Foundation (VTSF), the organization charged with running the state's tobacco prevention programs. This amounts to just one-third of the minimum amount recommended by the CDC, and ranks Virginia 22nd among the states in the funding of tobacco prevention programs.
Smoke-free workplace laws: Ten states have passed smoke-free workplace laws that cover restaurants and bars – California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. Four other states – Florida, Idaho, Utah and Montana – have smoke-free laws that include restaurants. Hundreds of cities, counties and entire countries have also enacted strong smoke-free laws. These laws protect everyone's right to breathe clean air, free from the proven health hazards of secondhand smoke. Secondhand smoke contains more than 4,000 chemicals and 69 known carcinogens including formaldehyde, lead, arsenic, benzene and radioactive polonium 210. It is a proven cause of serious health problems, including heart disease, lung cancer and chronic lung ailments such as bronchitis and asthma. While smoke-free laws protect health, numerous studies and the experience of smoke-free communities show that such laws do not hurt business and may even have a positive impact.
The Tobacco-Free Kids Action Fund is a non-partisan 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization that works to reduce the devastating toll of tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke by mounting advocacy and electoral campaigns to support anti-tobacco policies. The Action Fund is dedicated to educating voters about positions on tobacco-related issues taken by candidates seeking public office at the state, local and federal level and to advocating for proven solutions to reduce tobacco use and its terrible toll in health, lives and money. For more information visit www.tobaccofreeaction.org.