Iowa Has Not Enough Funds for Anti-Smoking Fight
Iowa could lose its momentum against smoking Hilton if legislators halt the state’s aggressive anti-smoking ads and its free counseling service for people who want to quit, anti-tobacco activists declared. Republicans controlling the Iowa House have proposed ending the programs as part of a broad plan to cut $481 million in state spending over three years.
Tobacco opponents noted that Iowa has seen its adult smoking rate drop at least 39 percent since 2002, and they said the state programs are a major reason for the success. They’ll make their case during a budget hearing at 6:30 p.m. today in the Iowa House chamber.
Researchers said stark anti-tobacco ads and free counseling services have been shown to help people quit or never start smoking cigarettes, saving lives and lowering public medical bills. Several states have ended the programs or are considering doing so.
“It’s a colossally bad idea, even if you don’t care about public health and all you really care about is money,” said Stanton Glantz, a leading anti-tobacco activist and medical professor at the University of California-San Francisco.
Republican legislators said earlier this month that they wanted to end Just Eliminate Lies, a youth-oriented group that produces anti-smoking ads and public demonstrations, and Quitline Iowa, which offers free telephone counseling. Nonpartisan legislative staffers estimated that cutting all anti-smoking efforts could save the state up to $2.4 million in the rest of this fiscal year and up to $6.7 million in the next fiscal year.
After the announcement, House Majority Leader Linda Upmeyer described the anti-smoking efforts as “ineffective.” However, Rep. Nick Wagner, R-Marion, said last week that the effectiveness question wasn’t the main consideration.
Wagner, who is floor manager of the overall budget-cutting bill, said the issue came down to priorities. Legislators considered the fact that the anti-smoking programs were spending money on things such as T-shirt giveaways, he said.
“I think instead of the state handing out money for T-shirts, we should be spending money to get people off the mental-health waiting lists,” he said.
He added that numerous nonprofit groups already are involved in anti-smoking efforts, and he hoped they would help pick up the slack from the state cuts.
Wagner said he’s heard the contention that the cuts would cost the state, because more smokers would contract deadly, expensive diseases and bill public insurance for treatment. He said there probably is some truth to the argument, but he said proponents can say the same about numerous other possible cuts.
Glantz, the California professor, said the costs wouldn’t be too far away. He said studies in other states that have cut anti-smoking programs found heart attack rates climbed within a year or two. Cancer takes longer to develop, so its rates don’t change immediately.
Glantz noted that many factors are helping drive down smoking rates. Those include higher cigarette taxes, public-smoking bans and limits on tobacco advertising.
Dr. Gene Lutz, a University of Northern Iowa sociology professor who does formal assessments of Iowa’s anti-smoking efforts, said Quitline Iowa has a measurable track record.
He said about 65,000 smokers have used the program in the past 2½ years. About 20 percent managed to quit for at least a month, compared with less than 5percent of smokers who try to quit on their own, he said.
Wagner said Republican legislators aren’t aware of any studies to counter those cited by people like Glantz and Lutz. State Sen. Jack Hatch, D-Des Moines, said that’s part of the reason Democrats controlling his chamber will try to retain the anti-smoking programs.
Cathy Callaway, chairwoman of the state tobacco commission, said she suspects the sharp tone of the Just Eliminate Lies ads caused disapproval among some legislators. The ads feature harsh images of tobacco’s effects or satirical depictions of tobacco executives as con men.
Callaway, an American Cancer Society lobbyist, said the ads need to be dramatic to catch teens’ attention.
Gov. Terry Branstad, a Republican who emphasizes the need to cut medical expenses by preventing chronic diseases, did not respond to a request for comment on the anti-smoking issue.
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