Dr. Charles Mahan joined public health leaders reflecting on 10-year mark of Florida’s historic $13-billion tobacco industry settlement
While Florida has scored victories against cigarette makers since 1997, the state still has unfinished business in helping the 3.1 million adult Floridians who are still smoking, said Charles Mahan, MD, dean emeritus of the College of Public Health at the University of South Florida – home of the Lawton & Rhea Chiles Center for Healthy Mothers and Babies.
“The good news is that more than 70 percent of smokers want to quit, but smoking is an addiction and it takes most people several attempts before they can quit successfully,” said Dr. Mahan, who served as Florida’s State Health Officer from 1988 to 1995. “We must make more resources available to help these smokers who want to break this addiction. This must be the next step in the battle against Big Tobacco.”
Dr. Mahan was among Florida’s public health leaders who took up the fight with the tobacco industry more than a decade ago.
They gathered in Tallahassee Aug. 21 to celebrate the 10-year anniversary since the signing of Florida’s historic tobacco industry settlement, which severely curtailed cigarette advertising and sparked a precipitous decline in youth smoking. Dr. Mahan was joined by Rhea Chiles, Florida’s former first lady; Lawton “Bud” Chiles III, the eldest son of the late Gov. Lawton Chiles; former Attorney General Bob Butterworth; and others.
In addition to winning $13 billion in payments from Big Tobacco to taxpayers, the tobacco settlement banned outdoor advertising of cigarettes on billboards and public transit, and created the Florida Tobacco Control Program to fight cigarette use among youth.
“The victory over Big Tobacco created a safer and healthier world for our children,” said Butterworth, now Secretary of the Department of Children and Families. “The changes that followed have been so successful, it’s hard to believe we once had Marlboro Man and Joe Camel billboards plastered along our highways, inside our ballparks and on our bus stops. We had cigarette vending machines in shopping malls and even Joe Camel-style cartoon ads and merchandise that clearly targeted children. I’m proud of the progress we’ve made over the past decade, and I’m proud to be able to celebrate this tenth anniversary of our victory.”
Within the last 10 years, according to the Florida Department of Health’s Youth Tobacco Survey, the percentage of high school students that smoked in the last month has decreased from 27 percent in 1998 to just 15.5 percent in 2006 – a 44 percent drop. And the number of high school students who smoke frequently – defined as 20 cigarettes in the last month – has dropped to just 4.5 percent. That number is down by two-thirds from 1998, said Rhea Chiles, Florida’s former first lady.
“These are numbers Florida can be proud of, as I know my husband would have been,” Chiles said. “Gov. Crist and the Legislature deserve praise for their diligent work to implement last year’s voter-mandated amendment to increase funding for our state’s anti-tobacco programs to $57 million.”
Cigarette smoking is the single most preventable cause of premature death in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Florida, nearly 29,000 deaths are attributable to smoking each year, and current annual health care costs directly caused by cigarette use total $5.82 billion, with an additional $5.86 billion in lost productivity.
These grim statistics are a reminder that the state must not become complacent, but remain vigilant in its efforts to help people break their deadly addition to tobacco by providing them sincere support, Dr. Mahan said.
“Smoking is an addiction – we need to treat it as such by making smoking cessation a standard covered benefit in our health care system.” — Dr. Charles Mahan, dean emeritus, USF College of Public Health
“Government, business and health care providers must combine forces to ensure CDC-recommended pharmacological treatment and counseling programs are available to all smokers who want to quit as part of standard insurance benefits – and not simply once, but for multiple attempts,” Dr. Mahan said.
To aid this effort, doctors must receive more training in medical school and continuing education programs about the proven techniques that dramatically improve smokers’ chances of successfully quitting, Dr. Mahan said. “Too often, doctors tell patients, ‘you know, you really ought to quit smoking,’ without offering treatments and resources that can help them accomplish that difficult goal.”