Utah's tobacco report card bad

In a national report on tobacco control, Utah received two F's, a D and a B — a much better report card than the one given to Congress and the White House.

The American Lung Association's "State of Tobacco Control 2004" for the first time ranks the federal government, which debuted with F's and a D.

Utah failed in both "Tobacco Prevention and Control Spending" and in "youth access." It earned a D for its cigarette tax — 70 cents a pack, in the middle of the range that spans from Kentucky's 3 cents to the $2.40-plus added to cigarettes in Rhode Island, according to Craig Cutright, associate director of the American Lung Association of Utah.

Its best grade, a B, came in the area of "Smoke-free Air" and is a grade that would go up if Utah decides to ban smoking in bars and grills, Cutright said.

That's something he said anti-tobacco forces are working on, in conjunction with the upcoming legislative session.

The report notes that Utah has the very lowest smoking rate for both adults and youths, but it still "significantly impacts the physical and financial health of all Utahns."

And while it praises members of the Coalition for Tobacco Free Utah and state agencies for cessation, education and enforcement activities, it blasted the Utah Legislature for failing to allocate even half the minimum amount of funding recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for anti-tobacco programs.

Nearly all the states failed to come close to funding at CDC-recommended levels.

"Although the state of tobacco control in Utah is better than it was just a few years ago," the report says, "much more needs to be done. Smoke-free environments must be expanded to airports, bars and clubs and other work places."

It calls for a coordinated smoking prevention package for schools, as well.

The federal government earned its worst grades by not granting the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate tobacco products, for its failure to approve and fund a National Action Plan for Tobacco Cessation —including a national quit line and federal funding of cessation benefits, among other things — and from Congress' failure to pass a recommended $2 a pack cigarette tax, the report said.

Its best grade, the D, was given because President Bush has signed an international treaty that sets standards countries can adopt to control tobacco use and addiction. But he hasn't sent it to the Senate to be ratified.

"We haven't really seen much change over the last two years. They've come up with the national standards by which they measure all the states," Cutright said. "Some fit Utah pretty well, some don't fit well."

For instance, he said, Utah does a very good job with enforcement and compliance, but the national criteria mandates a statewide agency that controls it, whereas Utah uses a collaborative approach between the local health department, city and county government and local law enforcement. "They do a very good job, but that's not how they've decided nationally that it should be done."

And while the recommendations are good, Cutright said, Utah's good news gets a little lost. "We have the lowest consumption of tobacco in the country, 11.9 percent," he said. "We are the only state that has reached the goal of 12 percent or under. And we're doing well in many areas."

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E-mail: lois@desnews.com