Wisconsin Spends $10 Million
On Tobacco Prevention Programs
WASH. DC (Dec. 2, 2004) – Wisconsin ranks 24th the nation in funding programs to protect kids from tobacco, according to a national report released today by a coalition of public health organizations. Wisconsin currently spends $10 million a year on tobacco prevention programs, which amounts to 32.1 percent of the minimum amount of $31.2 million recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
In contrast, the tobacco companies are spending a record $247 million a year to market cigarettes and other tobacco products in Wisconsin, amounting to almost 25 times what the state spends on tobacco prevention.
The report also found Wisconsin has plenty of tobacco-generated revenue to increase funding for tobacco prevention. Wisconsin’s current spending on tobacco prevention amounts to just 2.4 percent of the $423.6 million it will collect this year from the state tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes.
“Wisconsin has invested a small amount in protecting its kids from tobacco, but it is falling far short of the minimum amount recommended by the experts at the CDC,” said Maureen Busalacchi, Executive Director of SmokeFree Wisconsin. “Wisconsin should increase its cigarette tax and invest more in tobacco prevention because the tobacco companies are spending record amounts to market their deadly and addictive products, often in ways that appeal to kids. Tobacco prevention is a smart investment that protects kids, saves lives and saves money for taxpayers by reducing tobacco-related health care costs.”
The report, “A Broken Promise to Our Children,” was released by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, American Heart Association, American Cancer Society and American Lung Association. It concludes that, six years after the 1998 multi-state tobacco settlement, most states have failed to keep their promise to spend a significant portion of their settlement money on programs to prevent kids from starting to smoke and help smokers quit. The states are expected to collect about $246 billion from the tobacco settlements over 25 years.
Because 38 states and the District of Columbia have increased tobacco taxes in the last three years, the states this year will collect a record $20 billion in tobacco-generated revenue from the tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes. However, they are spending just 2.7 percent of this total, or $538 million, on programs to prevent kids from starting to smoke and help smokers quit, according to the report. This amounts to only a third of what the CDC recommends the states spend on tobacco prevention and cessation programs.
In contrast, the tobacco companies have increased their marketing by more than 84 percent since the tobacco settlement to a record $12.7 billion a year, or $34.8 million a day, according to the Federal Trade Commission’s latest report on tobacco marketing. As a result, the tobacco companies spend more than $23 dollars to market cigarettes and other tobacco products nationwide for every dollar the states spend on tobacco prevention. The tobacco companies spend more on marketing in a single day than 46 states and the District of Columbia each spend in an entire year on tobacco prevention.
This year’s report also finds the following:
• Only three states – Maine, Delaware and Mississippi – currently fund tobacco prevention programs at minimum levels recommended by the CDC.
• Only ten other states are funding tobacco prevention programs at even half the minimum levels recommended by the CDC.
• Thirty-two states are spending less than half the CDC’s minimum amount. Another five states – Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Tennessee – and the District of Columbia allocate no significant state funds for tobacco prevention.
The report found that there is more evidence than ever that tobacco prevention programs work to reduce smoking, save lives, and save money by reducing smoking-caused health costs. Maine, which ranks first among the states in funding tobacco prevention, has reduced smoking by 48 percent among high school students and 59 percent among middle school students since launching its tobacco prevention program in 1997.
Mississippi, ranked third in the report, reduced smoking by 48 percent among public middle school students and 29 percent among public high school students between 1999 and 2002. Studies show California’s program, started in 1990, has helped save tens of thousands of lives by reducing smoking-caused heart disease, lung cancer and other diseases. Studies show California and Massachusetts have saved as much as $3 in smoking-caused health costs for every dollar spent on tobacco prevention.
Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., killing more than 400,000 people and costing more than $75 billion in health care bills every year. Nearly 90 percent of all smokers start at or before age 18. Every day in the U.S., another 2,000 kids become regular smokers, one-third of whom will die prematurely as a result.
In Wisconsin, 23.6 percent of high school students currently smoke, and 15,900 more kids become regular smokers every year. Each year, tobacco use claims 7,800 lives and costs the state $1.58 billion in health care bills.
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