Health Focus Area: Tobacco Use and Exposure

What is tobacco use and exposure?

Tobacco use and exposure is the active or passive introduction into the human body of toxins found in tobacco products. Tobacco use and exposure is a complex web of social influences, physiological addiction, and marketing and promotion of tobacco products. Effective tobacco prevention and control efforts reduce youth initiation, promote cessation, eliminate environmental tobacco smoke, and address the disparate impact of tobacco on various populations. Comprehensive efforts include counter-marketing, community interventions, legislation and policy change, and evaluation and monitoring.

 

Why is tobacco use and exposure included in Healthiest Polk County 2015?

  • Tobacco continues to be a devastating health and economic burden on Wisconsin.  Each year, 8,000 people in Wisconsin die from tobacco-related illness.  Approximately 60 Polk County residents die each year from tobacco-related illness. Cigarette smoking causes 83% of all lung cancer deaths and 14% of deaths from cardiovascular disease in Polk County.
  • Almost 21% of Polk’s pregnant women smoke resulting in risk for low birth weight babies.
  • In 2007, an estimated $2.8 billion in health care costs were paid in Wisconsin as a result of diseases caused by smoking, with 22 million paid in Polk County.
  • In 2008, there were more than 374 million packs of cigarettes sold in Wisconsin.  Residents of Polk County spent approximately $10.3 million on 2.5 million packs of cigarettes in 2008.

What are our overall Tobacco use and Exposure Goals?

  1. By December 2015, reduce tobacco use and exposure among Polk County Youth by 25%
  2. By December 2015, reduce tobacco use and exposure among Polk County’s adult population by 10%
  3. By December 2015, reduce the number of pregnant women smoking in Polk County by 25%

How will we know we are making progress?

  • Indicator 1:  Polk County tobacco sales rate to minors will decrease from 13.5% (2009) to under 10% (Source:  Wisconsin Wins Compliance Check Data)
  • Indicator 2:  Percentage of Polk County High School Youth who use tobacco will decrease from 20.7% to 15.5% (Source:  Burden of Tobacco 2010 measured by YRBS)
  • Indicator 3:  Percentage of Polk County Middle School Youth who use tobacco will decrease from 4.3% to 3.2% (Source:  Burden of Tobacco 2010 measured by YRBS)
  • Indicator 4:  Percentage of tobacco use among adults in Polk County will decrease from 16.7% to 15% (Source:  Burden of Tobacco 2010 measured by BRFSS)
  • Number of packs of cigarettes sold in Polk County will decrease from 2,520,000 to 2,268,000. (Source:  Burden of Tobacco 2010 measured by The Tax Burden on Tobacco)
  • Indicator 6:  Percentage of all cause tobacco-related deaths in Polk County will decrease from 15% to 13.5% (Source:  Burden of Tobacco 2010 from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention: Smoking attributable Morbidity, Mortality, and Economic Costs)
  • Indicator 7:  The percentage of pregnant women smoking in Polk County will decrease from 20.9% to 15.7% (Source:  Burden of Tobacco 2010 measured by Wisconsin Interactive Statistics on Health – WISH)

Who are the key stakeholders?

  • Polk County Policymakers
  • Polk County Citizens
  • Polk County Business Community
  • Polk County Healthcare Providers
  • Polk County School Districts
  • Polk County Law Enforcement
  • Polk County Faith Community
  • State Legislators 

What can Individuals & Families do?

  • Support of school based tobacco use prevention programs (i.e.: TATU, FACT)
  • Create individual plans for behavioral change which include goal-setting, problem solving and prevention of relapse into tobacco use
  • Encourage family members that smoke to set a “stop smoking date”
  • Encourage families to look at the cost of smoking and create a list of things they could do with the money they save if they quit smoking
  • Engage parents and youth in activities supportive of outreach and education to local and state leaders
  • Encourage families and individuals to educate local policymakers on tobacco use and exposure
  • Distribute educational information to families about Other Tobacco Products (OTP’s) and encourage families interested in tobacco prevention to educate others
  • Have displays of  OTP’s  at appropriate venues, so others are familiar with what they are and what they look like (these products are not a safe tobacco alternative)

What can Organizations & Institutions do?

  • Provide access to smoking cessation resources and programs
  • Health Care:  Assess patients smoking habits in all routine office visits
  • Educate and encourage local businesses to offer tobacco cessation programs with incentives
  • Encourage local businesses to offer lunchtime cessation support groups
  • Encourage retailers to place all tobacco products behind the counter
  • Regulate/ decrease tobacco advertising
  • Have school curriculum that addresses OTP’s

What can Community & Systems do?

  • Conduct community - wide media campaign to raise awareness about tobacco use/exposure
  • Educate the public on the Smoke-Free WI law that became effective July 5, 2010
  • Increase access to cessation resources and support
  • Regulate/decrease tobacco advertising