San Francisco approves historic ordinance to ban tobacco use in county, city ballparks The San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a first-of-its-kind ordinance against tobacco on Tuesday, prohibiting the use of all tobacco products at baseball venues within the county and city. The measure, which includes smokeless tobacco products in its ban, was passed with unanimous approval. It would affect both players and fans at ballparks and athletic fields — including AT&T Park — and take effect on January 1, 2016. However, it first needs final approval from the Board of Supervisors and a signature from Mayor Ed Lee. The final vote is ... April 23, 2015 General Public Health, Tobacco, Advocacy 0 0 Comment Read More »
Study finds sharp rise in the use of e-cigarettes among young people A new study has found that 4.6 million young people — a quarter of all high school students and nearly 8 percent of middle school students —used tobacco in some form last year. According to the study, there was a decline in the numbers of high school students smoking cigarettes (from 16 percent to 9 percent), as well as a decline in the use of cigars and pipes. However, the study found that there was a substantial increase in the use of e-cigarettes (9.4 percent) and hookah pipes (13.4 ... April 23, 2015 General Public Health, Tobacco, Electronic Cigarettes 0 0 Comment Read More »
Save Lives California announces package of tobacco-related legislation Save Lives California, a coalition supported by the California Medical Association (CMA), joined local lawmakers at the state Capitol to announce a broad, multi-legislative effort with a single unifying goal: Saving lives from the public health threat posed by Big Tobacco. The effort revolves around five bills in the state legislature that would raise the tobacco tax by $2-per-pack (SB 591, Pan), help keep tobacco out of the hands of youth by raising the minimum age to 21 (SB 151, Hernandez), regulate e-cigarettes (SB 140, Leno), ban tobacco products in ... April 13, 2015 General Tobacco, Tobacco Tax, Legislative Advocacy, Public Health, Save Lives California 0 0 Comment Read More »
Sweeping series of bills takes on big tobacco to save lives in California Unprecedented multi-legislative effort puts forth five bills to curb youth tobacco use, rein in cost of smoking-related disease, and expand access to health care. Today, the Save Lives California coalition gathered with lawmakers at the California State Capitol to laud a sweeping series of recently introduced bills that take on Big Tobacco. Taken as a whole, these bills represent an unprecedented coordinated legislative effort in California to curb youth tobacco usage, regulate e-cigarettes, and save Californian lives and money, as well as expand access to health care for low-income Californians. ... April 9, 2015 General Smoking, Save Lives California, Tobacco 0 0 Comment Read More »
Raising the smoking age to 21 could reduce tobacco use among next generation A report released today by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) said that raising the smoking age to 21 could reduce smoking by as much as 12 percent in the next generation. In addition, smoking-related deaths could be cut by nearly 10 percent. Tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable death in this country. The U.S. Surgeon General estimates that 5.6 million youth alive today will lose their lives prematurely if we don’t do more to reduce current smoking rates. Roughly 90 percent of daily smokers first tried a cigarette before ... March 17, 2015 General Smoking Age, Tobacco, Institute of Medicine, Smoking 0 0 Comment Read More »
Bill to eliminate the use of tobacco products at California baseball venues introduced in Assembly A bill (AB 768) that would eliminate the use of all tobacco products – including smokeless tobacco – at all baseball venues in California in an effort to protect the health of players and to set an effective example for children was introduced Tuesday by Assemblymember Tony Thurmond (D-Richmond). A similar local measure was also introduced in San Francisco by Supervisor Mark Farrell. Public health advocates, including the California Medical Association (CMA) and youth baseball players, joined Assemblymember Thurmond and Supervisor Farrell at the respective announcements in Sacramento and San ... March 9, 2015 General State LEgislation, Tobacco, California Legislature 0 0 Comment Read More »
CMA passes five tobacco-related resolutions The California Medical Association (CMA) has been a tireless advocate for stronger restrictions on the tobacco industry for decades. This weekend, the CMA House of Delegates (HOD) continued that tradition, adopting five antismoking resolutions. The resolutions address increasing the legal age for tobacco sales, the use of electronic cigarettes and a tobacco-free military. Resolution 104-14 asks CMA to support the removal of the tobacco control pre-emption from the California Penal Code so that local governments would have the ability to increase the legal age of tobacco sales to 21. Resolutions 101-14, ... December 9, 2014 General Public Health, Tobacco, House of Delegates 0 0 Comment Read More »
