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June 2017 Volume 6, Issue 6
A Closer Lo k Inside This Issue:
New York Youth Advocates Speak Out At Altria’s Shareholder Meeting
1
Health groups start 12-month
countdown for R-rating
2
June is Healthy Homes Month 3
Thank You For Helping Protect
the Health of our Community!
3
* Contact STTAC and get FREE
signage for your worksite when
you develop a new tobacco-free
grounds or entryway policy for
your business, while supplies last!
a healthy bottom line
STTAC Staff:
Stacy Hills, MS, MCHES STTAC Director [email protected]
Sarah Robbins, BS
Community Engagement Coordinator
Sunnie Smith, MS
Reality Check Coordinator
McKenzie Richardson, AS
Program Assistant
New York Youth Advocates Speak Out At Altria’s Shareholder Meeting
1
As the Altria Group shareholders made their way to the company’s annual meeting on Thursday, May 18, approximately 40 youth advocates from Reality Check New York were at the Marshall Street entrance of the Richmond Convention Center, welcoming them in a very special way – dressed in skull caps and skeleton costumes.
No, it wasn’t a zombie invasion. It was a demon-stration designed to tell Altria and Philip Morris USA (PMUSA) that they’ve seen enough tobacco marketing and they want the company to do something about it. Throughout the activity, members of the group roamed the streets near the convention center, trying to educate the crowd about the harmful effects of tobacco and tobacco marketing.
Some advocates took their fight right to the source – the Chairman and Chief Executive Of-ficer of Altria Group, Martin J. Barrington. Three Reality Check youth were given shareholder proxy tickets allowing them to go inside the meeting to address corporate tobacco executives and ask questions.
“Philip Morris USA claims it doesn’t market to kids and doesn’t want them to start smoking,” said Lindsay Amico, coordinator of the Reality Check program of Tobacco-Free Erie-Niagara. “If that’s the case, then why are they spending $9.6 billion per year to market their products where kids are likely to see it?”
Studies show kids who shop in stores with tobac-co marketing, such as gas stations and conven-ience stores, are 64 percent more likely to start smoking than their friends who don’t.
“Despite what they say, Philip Morris USA spends billions marketing their deadly products right in front of us,” said Jasmine Collins, a high school senior and Reality Check advocate from Niagara Falls High School. “Enough is enough, already!”
The Altria shareholders demonstration was a joint effort between Reality Check NY and Counter Tools of Chapel Hill, NC, a non-profit organization that provides advocacy training to public health workers who are working on point of sale tobacco control. In preparation for demonstrating on Thursday, the Reality Check youth spent all day Wednesday learning about tobacco control policies, how the tobacco indus-try contracts with retailers, and how they can stand up, speak out and make a difference in the fight against big tobacco.
Reality Check is a teen-led, adult-run program that seeks to prevent and decrease tobacco use among young people throughout New York State.
For more information about Reality Check, visit realitycheckny.org.
Message to Shareholders: We’ve Seen Enough Tobacco Marketing
Source: Lisa Henriksen, Nina C. Schleicher, Ellen C Feighery and Stephen P. Fortmann. Pediatrics published online July 19, 2010. DOI: 10.1542/peds.2009‐3021
Health groups start 12-month countdown for R-rating
2
If you think something is
wrong with this picture,
you should see what’s
being served up in stores.
Tobacco companies place most of
their advertising in stores where
Shop at least once per week
Take action now at
SeenEnoughTobacco.org
% OF
TEENS 75
In a two-page statement published in The Hollywood Reporter and Variety, Smokefree Movies’ national partners demand that the Motion Picture Associa-tion of America R-rate any movie with smoking submitted for a film rating after June 1, 2018. The partners’ statement reviews the 15-year history of policy advocacy for the R-rating — from its proposal in a 2002 public health journal to the CDC's 2015 report that the R-rating would reduce teen smoking rates by nearly 20 percent and avert one million tobacco deaths in this generation of kids. The partners point out that if Hollywood had kept reducing smoking on screen at the pace it did be-tween 2005 and 2010, kid-rated films would be smokefree today. Instead, there has been no pro-gress in half a decade (see figure below). More than one in three PG-13 films still featured tobac-co imagery in 2016 and audiences' PG-13 tobacco exposure jumped 59 percent. The statement reports that since 2010, the US film industry has released 210 top-grossing, youth-rated films with smoking. The films featured more than 6,000 tobacco incidents and delivered more than 60 billion tobacco impressions to domestic theater audiences — not counting exposure through video media. The CDC has reported that exposure to on-screen smoking will recruit 6.2 million new young smok-ers in this generation, of whom two million will die prematurely from tobacco-induced cancer, heart disease, lung disease or stroke. The MPAA claims it considers smoking in its ratings, but the official rating guidelines never mention smoking or tobac-co. Likewise, individual companies’ tobacco depic-tion policies fail to stop on-screen smoking. The Smokefree Movies partner statement concludes: We need an R-rating that applies to every studio, every producer, every film. Every delay condemns more kids to tobacco addiction, disability, and early death. We
therefore make this specific, time- sensitive demand: The MPAA’s Classification and Rating Administration must apply an R-rating to any motion picture with tobacco imagery submitted for classification after June 1, 2018. Exceptions should be limited to films that exclusively portray actual people who used tobacco (as in documentaries or biographical dramas) or that depict the serious health consequences of tobacco use. The June 1, 2018 deadline reflects Hollywood’s product cycle. It gives producers twelve months to voluntarily avoid tobacco imagery in films now in pre-production, to edit smoking out of movies now in production, or to eliminate smoking in post-production, just as film producers now rou-tinely calibrate other movie content to achieve a PG-13 or R-rating. Updating the MPAA’s rating standard to include tobacco is not expected to lead to more films be-ing R-rated. Instead, it will keep future youth-rated movie smokefree. Health groups have long main-tained that an R-rating for smoking does not aim to restrict film audience but will act as a perma-nent, market-based incentive for film producers. The statement is signed by: American Academy of Pediatrics American Heart Association American Medical Association American Public Health Association Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights Breathe California Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids Smokefree Movies Trinity Health Truth Initiative
Read the full two-page statement published in film industry trade publications The Hollywood Reporter
Source: The Smokefree Movies blog at http://smokefreemovies.ucsf.edu/blog/health-groups-start-12-month-countdown-r-rating and @SmokefreeMovies and @ProfGlantz
The Southern Tier Tobacco Awareness Coalition (STTAC) seeks to build healthier communities through tobacco free living in Chemung, Schuyler, & Steuben, NY.
STTAC has 4 initiatives:
To reduce the impact of retail tobacco product marketing on youth, Point-of Sale (POS).
To increase the number of Tobacco Free Outdoor (TFO) policies, which includes tobacco free worksites, parks, vehicles, entryways and other public outdoor areas.
To increase the number of smoke-free multi-unit housing (SF-MUH) policies.
Eliminate pro-tobacco imagery from youth-rated movies and the internet, Smoke-Free Media (SFM).
Physical & Mailing Address:
103 Washington Street Elmira, NY 14901
Main Office Phone number:
Main Line: 607-737-2858
Director: 737-2028 ext.73482
Reality Check Coordinator: 737-2028 ext.73483
Community Engagement Coordinator: 737-2028 ext.73480
Program Assistant: 737-2028 ext.73481
We’re on the Web, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube! www.sttac.org www.facebook/sttac www.twitter/sttacny
STTAC Contact Information:
4
Thank You For Helping Protect the Health of our Community!
June is Healthy Homes Month, a time when we
should consider our own homes and the changes
we can make to ensure they are healthy environ-
ments for ourselves and our loved ones to live in.
Some topics that usually come up when thinking
about health risks at home include lead exposure,
water issues, and structural/electrical issues. But
one thing is often ignored that may be the big-
gest risk factor of them all: smoke exposure.
Hundreds of thousands of Americans are ex-
posed to secondhand smoke at home. Tobacco
smoke exposure is known to cause and worsen
severe health issues such as cancer, heart disease,
asthma, respiratory infections, SIDS, and more.
Secondhand smoke is known as a class ‘A’ car-
cinogen, and is full of toxic chemicals. According
to the American Lung Association, secondhand
smoke is known to cause about 7,330 lung cancer
deaths and 33,950 deaths from heart disease each
year. Smoke exposure is even more harmful to
infants and children; responsible for 430 cases of
SIDS in the US each year, as well as, hundreds of
thousands of lower respiratory infections and
asthma flare ups in young children.
Even if you don’t smoke, you and your family
could still be exposed to the deadly toxins
through secondhand smoke if someone else
smokes in or around your home. This is especial-
ly true for those who live in apartment complex-
es without a smoke-free policy – you are still
being affected by smoke from others in your
building, and there is no safe level of exposure.
Secondhand smoke drifts throughout the build-
ing through windows, outlets, and ducts. Even
modern ventilation systems aren’t effective
enough to keep it from circulating. The CDC
reports that during 2011-2012, 36.8% of non-
smokers living in rented housing were exposed to
secondhand smoke at home. This number is
quite concerning.
The good news is that you can protect yourself
and your loved ones by making your home
smoke-free. If you or one of your family mem-
bers smokes, now is the time to start thinking
about all the reasons to quit, and how much
healthier you could make your home for your
loved ones. If you don’t smoke, but live in a
building where people do, talk to your landlord
about going smoke-free. Start a petition, gather
support from other tenants, and visit
SmokeFreeHousingNY.org or STTAC.org for
more resources and tips on how to advocate for
a smoke-free policy. STTAC can also help with
policy development and FREE signage.
Allowing secondhand smoke in your home puts
everyone who lives there in danger. We have a
responsibility to protect ourselves and our loved
ones from this silent killer. Healthy Homes
Month is the perfect time to start fighting for
your right to a smoke free-home.
June is Healthy Homes Month
Contact STTAC to see how you can get FREE signage when you develop
a Tobacco-Free Worksite or Municipal Policy, while supplies last!
Source: http://www.smokefreehousingny.org/
