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Debates: DAVID HILL Why we should tackle adult smoking first Tob Control 1999; 8: 333-335 [Full text] [PDF]

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Response to Dr Hill''s excellent article

Rick Kropp   (7 November 1999)

Response to Dr Hill''s excellent article 7 November 1999
Rick Kropp, Nonprofit executive director Parent Education Network Send letter to journal: Re: Response to Dr Hill''s excellent article kropp{at}sunset.net Rick Kropp	Comprehensive Tobacco Control Strategies Impact Youth and Adults by Rick Kropp Tobacco Prevention and Policy Resources Santa Rosa, CA May 1, 1998 Efforts to Prevent and Reduce Youth Smoking Also Help Reduce Adult Smoking, And Vice Versa As someone who has been falsely accused for many years of “just” being a youth access specialist and “just” focusing on youth tobacco prevention, I have devoted a great deal of time and thought to those tobacco advocates who claim that a “youth-focused” tobacco control strategy is ineffective, neglects larger tobacco issues such as ETS exposure and adult smoking, and is counter- productive in achieving a smoke-free society. I have come to the conclusion these claims really missing the point. Their proponents fail to see the forest before the trees. The reality is that these so-called “youth-focused” strategies support and enhance efforts to reduce adult smoking and nonsmokers’ exposure to ETS, and vice versa. When someone looks at the wide array of tobacco control policies and programs in our public health and political arsenal, it becomes quite clear (at least to me) that all these approaches are interrelated and mutually supporting of each other. For sure, many tobacco advocates and elected officials use the “youth” focus to achieve political and policy goals. And while this may appear to be an effective strategy, it surely does play into the hands of the tobacco industry over the long term. National comprehensive tobacco control strategies include tobacco tax increases; the regulation of nicotine and tobacco products; eliminating nonsmokers exposure to ETS; youth tobacco prevention policies such as youth access laws and their enforcement; youth tobacco prevention education programs in the schools, home and community; restrictions on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship; and cessation programs for current tobacco users. In its most basic form, this national strategy addresses three public health problems: 1) a prevention problem where the goal is stopping children, teens and young adults from initiating regular tobacco use and becoming addicted to nicotine through the use of various prevention, media, education and policy strategies; 2) an addiction problem where the goal is getting adults and teen tobacco users to quit on their own or through cessation and relapse prevention programs; and 3) an ETS exposure problem in the home, family vehicles, all workplaces, enclosed public places, and public buildings. This national tobacco strategy impacts youth and adults. Tobacco prevention strategies such as youth access reduction efforts impact youth, but also effect adults such as merchants, parents and other adult family members who are sources of tobacco for minors. Tobacco prevention strategies such as advertising restrictions impact youth and adults. The objectives of tobacco advertising and promotion are: 1) market expansion, attracting nonusers to begin smoking and chewing tobacco, almost entirely minors; but also 2) to encourage tobacco consumption in three ways: by supporting continuation of smoking by adult and youth smokers who would otherwise quit; by encouraging adult and youth quitters to relapse; and by increasing adult and youth smokers’ daily consumption of cigarettes. Many other tobacco control strategies and approaches impact youth and adults. For example, creating and promoting positive parental and family influences in the home to prevent youth smoking impacts adults as well. Interventions that promote positive role models for young people in the community also impact adults. Restricting youth exposure to tobacco advertising and promotion also impacts adults exposure. Efforts to counter pro-tobacco influences in the community impact youth and adults. Anti- tobacco media advertising campaigns can and should impact both youth and adults. Eliminating exposure to ETS in the home and family vehicles impacts both youth and adults. School smoking restrictions apply to and impact both students and adults. Local and state clean indoor air laws impact adults and youth. Regulating the labeling, packaging and contents of tobacco products impacts youth and adults. Increasing tobacco excise taxes effects the consumption of both youth and adults. The “youth” versus “adult” tobacco control issue is an inaccurate and misleading distinction. Broad-based tobacco control programs, for example our California Prop 99 program, impact youth and adults through interrelated and mutually supportive activities.