A recent report by the American Lung Association (ALA) has given Signal Hill an “F” rating and Long Beach a “C” on policies for smoke-free outdoor air, smoke-free housing and reducing sales of tobacco products.
Signal Hill City Manager Charlie Honeycutt said that although he respects the mission of the American Lung Association and what they are trying to accomplish through their report card, he believes that the grade assigned to Signal Hill is inaccurate.
“The City was not made aware that the American Lung Association was preparing the report card, nor were we given an opportunity to review their draft report to correct any errors that the ALA made in their reporting,” Honeycutt said. “The ALA didn’t recognize that the City of Signal Hill has adopted the public health codes of Los Angeles County and the state. Recognition of these codes would have resulted in a higher grade for Signal Hill. I welcome the opportunity to collaborate with the ALA on future report cards.”
Kelly Colopy, director of the Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services, said Long Beach has been a leader in tobacco control and continues to receive scores at or above many cities in Los Angeles County, adding that it was one of the first cities to pass a no-smoking ordinance in California.
“The City of Long Beach has a strong tobacco ordinance and policy,” Colopy said. “Our ordinance prohibits smoking in all indoor places with public access and many outdoor areas, such as beaches and parks. In 2015, Long Beach added e-cigarettes to its tobacco ordinance, including e-cigarettes in the definition of a tobacco product, which prohibits vaping in outdoor and indoor areas. Long Beach has been recognized by the California Department of Public Health as having one of the most restrictive e-cigarette ordinances in the state, as it is regulated just like tobacco.”
Colopy added that the City has a voluntary smoke-free housing multi-unit dwellings policy and that Long Beach Health and Human Services works closely with landlords of multi-unit housing dwellings to facilitate no-smoking policies in multi-unit apartments.
“Currently, 48 percent of multi-unit dwellings in Long Beach are smoke-free,” Colopy said. “The City conducts an annual Tobacco Youth Purchase Survey.The number of illegal sales to minors has decreased from 36 percent of stores selling tobacco to minors to 7 percent.”
Long Beach and Signal Hill are not alone in their poor grades though.
“While many communities took significant action to improve their tobacco-control policies, a total of 307 cities and counties throughout the state— 40 percent of all municipalities— did little to nothing and have received an F for their overall tobacco grade,” the report states.
California, which the ALA described as “once a national leader in tobacco-control efforts,” as a whole was found to be currently failing in efforts to reduce tobacco-caused deaths and disease.
The State of Tobacco Control 2016 report rates all 50 states and the federal government in four key areas:tobacco control and prevention spending, smoke-free air, tobacco taxes and cessation coverage.
Although California earned a B for its smoke-free air policies, the state received an F for its low taxes on tobacco, an F for failing to adequately fund tobacco prevention and control programs and an F for lacking coverage of smoking-cessation and treatment services.
In conjunction with the national report, the State of Tobacco Control 2016 – California Local Grades report issues scores for all 482 cities and 58 counties in the state on smoke-free policies.
“This year’s report shows that much still needs to be done to protect citizens from the deadly effects of tobacco use,” the report states. “The Lung Association and its partners continue to call for immediate action by all levels of government to achieve three bold goals: reduce smoking rates currently at about 18 percent to less than 10 percent by 2024, protect all Americans from second-hand smoke by 2019 and ultimately eliminate the death and disease caused by tobacco use.”
Signal Hill received a zero rating in all 19 areas of the cities study. Under the category of Smoke-free Outdoor Air, the subcategories are dining, entryways, public events, recreation areas, service areas, sidewalks and work sites. Within the category of Smoke-free Housing, the subcategories include non-smoking apartments, non-smoking condominiums, non-smoking common areas and non-smoking housing authority. The category of Reducing Sales of Tobacco Products only includes tobacco retailer licensing. The category Emerging Issues Bonus Points breaks down into emerging products definition— second-hand smoke, emerging products definition— licensing, retailer location restrictions, sampling of tobacco products, sale of tobacco products in pharmacies, flavored tobacco products and minimum pack size of cigars.
Despite the lack of action at the state level and from many cities, this year’s California Local Grades report finds that more than 80 California municipalities took steps to improve their grades— double the number from last year and the largest increase in adopted policies since the first publication of the report.
“Nearly a quarter of high school students are using tobacco products, and use of e-cigarettes and little cigars is at an all-time high,” said David Tom Cooke, MD, FCCP, FACS, lung surgeon and member of the American Lung Association in California Governing Board. “It’s not a secret how we can reduce tobacco use. If California is going to make progress in reducing the number-one cause of preventable death in the state, it’s clear that raising the tobacco tax and enacting strong tobacco control policies are necessary.”
The American Lung Association in California is part of Save Lives California, a coalition of health groups working to place a $2 tobacco tax on the November 2016 ballot. According to the ALA, the tax will generate revenue to expand treatment services for Medi-Cal patients with tobacco-related and other illnesses, support existing statewide programs to prevent youth from using tobacco, increase funding for medical research into new treatments and cures for deadly diseases such as cancer and lung disease, and restore California’s leadership in tobacco-control efforts. California has not raised its tobacco tax since 1999 and now ranks 35th in the country at 87 cents per cigarette pack, well behind states like New York, Illinois, Texas, Florida, Oregon and Washington.
“California has a rare opportunity to directly save lives by supporting a tobacco tax to prevent and reduce tobacco use.” said Kristi VandenBosch, Governing Board Member, American Lung Association in California. “As our state remains well behind most others in the country in tobacco taxes, the Lung Association is proud to be a part of the Save Lives California effort. It’s time to take action to protect our kids from the deadly effects of tobacco products.”
