CDC says state spends less than 8% of what it should on preventing use of tobacco; companies spend 13 times as much

Kentucky spends only 7.6 percent of what it should spend on preventing the use of tobacco, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says in its latest annual report on the subject.

The state spent $4.33 million on tobacco-control programs in 2011, the year covered by the report. The CDC said spending of $57.2 million was called for, since 29 percent of Kentuckians smoked that year. Tobacco-related illnesses are estimated to cost Kentuckians $3.3 billion a year.

South Carolina and Texas, which spent 6.5 percent and 7 percent of the recommended amounts, were also singled out for criticism by the CDC. Nationally, states spend less than 18 percent of what they should, $3.7 billion, in the agency's view. "Only Alaska and North Dakota funded programs at the CDC-recommended levels, $10.7 million and $9.3 million, respectively," Samantha Ehlinger of McClatchy Newspapers reports.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2015/06/25/3918046/cdc-says-kentucky-isnt-spending.html#storylink=cpy

"States that made larger investments in tobacco prevention and control have seen larger declines in cigarettes sales than the United States as a whole, and the prevalence of smoking has declined faster as spending for tobacco control programs has increased," the CDC report said. "Evidence suggests that funding tobacco prevention and control efforts at the levels recommended . . . could achieve larger and more rapid reductions in tobacco use and associated morbidity and mortality."

In contrast to the state spending of $658 million on tobacco control, tobacco companies spent more than 13 times as much on advertising and promotion in 2011: $8.8 billion, or $24 million per day, the report noted.

"During the same period, more than 3,200 youth younger than 18 years of age smoked their first cigarette and another 2,100 youth and young adults who are occasional smokers progressed to become daily smokers," the report said. "If current rates continue, 5.6 million Americans younger than 18 years of age who are alive today are projected to die prematurely from smoking-related disease. However, the tobacco-use epidemic can be markedly reduced by implementing interventions that are known to work."

For the CDC's latest comprehensive report on tobacco use in Kentucky, with data from 2012, click here. For county-by-county figures on adults smoking in Kentucky in 2011-13, click here.

Lake Cumberland District Health Department using polls in an effort to get school boards to make campuses tobacco-free

Countywide smoking bans are unlikely to pass anytime soon in most of rural Kentucky, but more county school districts are making their campuses tobacco-free. Now a multi-county health department is trying to get rural school boards to do that, with public-opinion polls showing that county residents overwhelmingly favor the move.

Department logo has been altered to
show Clinton County in yellow.

The Lake Cumberland District Health Department conducted the poll in Clinton County, and said it found that 86.55 percent were in favor and 7.16 percent were opposed. The rest had no opinion.

Making a campus tobacco-free means that members of the public are not free to smoke at school athletic events, so the poll also asked, “Would you like to see our school become tobacco-free at all events?” The results were virtually the same: 85.3 percent answered yes and 8.7 percent answered no, even though one-fourth to one-fifth of the county's residents smoke and it has a long history of raising tobacco.

"The results are perhaps surprising to some, considering the rate of tobacco usage in the county," reports the Clinton County News. The poll of 749 residents has an error margin of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.

The department also surveyed 100 teachers in the school system and found that 77 percent would "definitely" support making the schools 100 percent tobacco-free.

The health department presented the survey and other findings to the Clinton County Board of Education June 15, but the board took no action. The department noted that a recent survey found that 28 percent of the county's students in eighth through 12th grades had used smokeless tobacco in the previous 30 days. "That level was the highest in the Lake Cumberland District," the Clinton County News reports.

The Casey County Board of Education adopted a smoke-free policy after a poll by the health department showed 70 percent of the county's residents favored it, the Casey County News reported.

UK students in national program to educate kids about oral health

A University of Kentucky undergraduate dental group was recently spotlighted by the National Children's Oral Health Foundation for their passion to share oral-health education with elementary and middle schools in Kentucky, according to a UK news release.

UK Students United with America's ToothFairy was founded in 2014 and is made up of more than 100 UK undergraduates interested in dentistry, who are also part of the UK Pre-Dental Society.

The America’s ToothFairy® program is the branch of the National Children’s Oral Health Foundation that works to prevent childhood dental disease through community-based prevention, education and treatment services.

"At a young age, these children can lose and permanently damage their teeth," Nabeela Rahman, a first-year UK College of Dentistry student and former UKPDS president, said in the release. "Being able to help these children, even slightly, was a very rewarding experience for me."

Already this year, UK's SUAT chapter has held six community outreach events reaching more than 500 students, targeting schools in Lexington and some rural Kentucky areas. It is considered one of the largest and more active chapters in the nation, the release says.

At each event, SUAT members share oral health and nutrition information and demonstrate proper tooth brushing and flossing. They also share information about the effects of tobacco on oral health and send the students home with toothbrushes, toothpaste and floss.

Tooth decay is the most common chronic disease in children and adolescents ages 6 to 19, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And a 2001 Kentucky oral health survey found that 29 percent of third- and sixth-grade students screened had untreated tooth decay and 75 percent had not seen a dentist in more than a year, according to the release.

Bourbon Co. teen named South's top youth anti-tobacco advocate for his efforts in pushing for county smoking ban

Tyler Boyle (Photo from
Lexington Herald-Leader)

Tyler Boyle, a Bourbon County High School senior and president of Students Making A Change in the Community, was named the South Region Youth Advocate of the Year by the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids for his efforts to push a smoking ban in Bourbon County, Lashana Harney reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Boyle has been a part of SMACC since it was re-established in 2013. The club is a place for youth voices to be heard on smoking issues, with the ultimate goal of a countywide smoking ban -- but in the meantime, working for a school regulation that would ban electronic cigarettes.

The smoking ban has yet to pass, but the schools have added e-cigarettes to their comprehensive tobacco policy, which banned tobacco products of any kind on school grounds.

Boyle told the Herald-Leader that he applied for the award in hopes of bringing more attention to the anti-tobacco cause in his county, which has a long history of tobacco production and sales.

"I applied for this award because of all of the work that I've done in my home community and state for tobacco control," he told Harney. "I thought that if I could make national attention, maybe, it would make the officials in my community take this issue more seriously."

Boyle said that he was honored to receive the award, which was presented at a gala in Washington, D.C., in mid-May. He plans to attend a symposium sponsored by the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids in Washington in July and the Philip Morris Cos. international shareholder meeting next May.

Boyle told Harney that sometimes he gets frustrated because change is slow to take place, but the will to keep pushing forward always comes back.

"After attending the award gala, I was revitalized and I'm ready for the next step in tobacco control," he said.

Boyle will attend Vassar College in the fall to study political science with a focus on advocacy work and said he would continue his work with the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids.

"Tobacco advocacy is something near to my heart," Boyle said. "Vassar is actually going smoke free in July 2015. So, I plan to work hard to implement and support their new policy."

Elementary-school students prompt Middlesboro smoking ban

UPDATE, May 20: The council passed the ban with one member opposing it. Gary Mills said, “I don’t think it’s the government’s right to intrude on businesses owned by individuals. If the public doesn’t like it, they won’t come. . . . This is too intrusive by the government.” Two non-smoking business owners expressed similar sentiments.

The Middlesboro City Council has approved on first reading an ordinance that would ban smoking in public, enclosed spaces. "It remains unclear if the ban would apply to the use of e-cigarettes and vaping products," William Tribell reports for the Middlesboro Daily News.

The ordinance was prompted in part by a March presentation and petition from a group of Middlesboro Elementary School students involved in Destination Imagination, "a volunteer-led, educational nonprofit organization whose purpose is to inspire and equip students to become the next generation of leaders," Tribell writes. "The team was awarded the DaVinci Award for Outstanding Creativity for their efforts and will now compete at the world competition May 20 in Knoxville."

The students drafted the ordinance after researching those in other cities, Tribell reports: "In their presentation to the city council, the team said that 33 percent of Bell County’s population smoke, and they discussed the health effects it has on the community at large."

"The council voted unanimously in favor of the ban ordinance, and it will go up for a second-reading vote at their meeting on May 19," Tribell reports.

Southern Kentucky physician expands his in-school clinics; already in Russell County, will be in Adair County next year

Dr. Eric Loy
(Columbia Magazine photo)

An entrepreneurial physician in Southern Kentucky has developed a way to deliver school health services that could have a broader impact on communities.

Cumberland Family Medical, based in Burkesville, has clinics at the five schools in Russell County and now has a deal to do likewise with the four in adjoining Adair County.

Dr. Eric Loy, who owns the clinic, "said that the agreement could have an important impact on the community both short term, by helping create a healthier and more focused student body; and long term, by creating a culture where people get acclimated to seeing doctors and nurses for physicals and regular checkups on a consistent basis," Wes Feese reports for The Adair Progress.

“We have a chance to change the culture of health care in Kentucky,” Loy told the Adair County Board of Education, which voted to spend $80,000 next year on the clinics. That is "roughly the same cost the district currently pays for school nurses," Feese reports. "If the trial run next year is successful, both parties will have options to continue the agreement."

"Cumberland Family Medical will pay two-thirds of the nurse expense and will bill the insurance of the patient," Toni Humphress reports for the Adair County Community Voice.

School Supt. Alan Reed complimented the dedication and service of the county’s school nurses but said costs to employ them were “soaring,” Feese reports. Reed said of Loy's plan, “This is kind of a novel approach, and from all we’ve seen, we really like it. It cuts down on time and any barriers for a kid getting health care.”

Loy agreed, saying, “A lot of times that’s the barrier, that it’s hard [for parents] to miss work.”

School principals said sick students may have to sit in an office or lobby all day because working parents are unavailable to come pick the students up and take them to a doctor. "Director of Pupil Personnel Robbie Harmon said that this move could have a bigger long-term impact on the community than any project he’s worked on in his time in the school system."

Loy's in-school clinics are manned by a full-time nurse practitioner who travels between schools, and is overseen by a physician. "Loy said that all forms of insurance would be accepted, and that all children would be seen and treated, regardless of their ability to pay," Feese reports. "He also said that the clinics could help out with insurance enrollment."

Adair County had one of the state's highest percentages of people without health insurance until the federal-state Medicaid program was expanded under federal health reform. The uninsured rate has dropped dramatically, but some families are still without health coverage.

Burgin, in heart of Kentucky, is state's 40th school district to go tobacco-free; ban, won by students, applies to vapor products

Burgin Independent Schools, in the heart of Kentucky, will be the latest 100 percent tobacco-free schools in the state, and the first in Mercer County, which has a strong tobacco heritage.

The Burgin Board of Education voted April 8 to ban all tobacco use, including vapor products, on school grounds and during school-related student trips, Robert Moore reports for The Harrodsburg Herald. The policy becomes effective July 1 and includes any building or vehicle owned or operated by the board and applies to any renters of school property.

Burgin will be the 40th Kentucky school district to become fully tobacco-free. Kentucky has 173 public- school districts, with 1,233 public schools, according to the state Department of Education.

The Kentucky 100 percent Tobacco-Free Schools website says, "Studies show that schools with 100 percent tobacco-free school policies for three years of more have 40 percent fewer smokers than those in non-tobacco free school districts." The 2013 Kentucky Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that 18 percent of Kentucky youth smoke, and 47 percent of them have smoked at least once.

"I’m really proud we’re going to be a tobacco free campus," board member Priscilla Harris told the Herald after the meeting. "We want to set a good example." The independently owned weekly newspaper recently did a three-part series on tobacco in the county, including Burgin students' efforts to get tobacco banned.

Kentucky 100 percent Tobacco Free Schools map, with Burgin added

Warren County school board bans tobacco use on campuses and by students and employees during extracurricular school activities

The Warren County Board of Education voted 4-1 on March 16 to ban the use of tobacco "by students, employees or those on school grounds or during extracurricular school activities" as of July 1, Charles Mason reports for the Bowling Green Daily News.

"Board Chairman Kerry Young dissented," Mason reports. "He said he wanted the district to establish designated smoking areas. Young said tobacco is legal for adults, and is a traditional cash crop for Kentuckians."

However, "Board Member Don Basham said it was in the best interest of the district to promote a tobacco-free environment," and the other three members agreed. 

About 40 of Kentucky's school districts have banned tobacco. "Warren will join Simpson County as the only two school districts in south-central Kentucky deemed 100 percent tobacco-free under state guidelines, Mason reports.

Kenton County Schools ban use of tobacco

The Kenton County Board of Education voted unanimously March 2 to approve a smoke-free policy immediately prohibiting the use of tobacco on school property, in board-owned vehicles and on school-related trips.

“We have a responsibility to model healthy behavior for students,” Supt. Terri Cox-Cruey told the Community Press and Recorder. "Jess Dykes, director of public relations and community engagement, said the request for the district to become smoke-free came from Gov. Steve Beshear," reporter Melissa Stewart writes. "The governor has requested all school districts to consider the policy change."

Dykes said Kenton County joins six other Northern Kentucky school districts with a smoking ban: Grant County, Beechwood, Dayton, Carroll County, Gallatin County and Williamstown.

#ThanksMichelleObama: Students use social media to voice their unhappiness with revamped school lunches

School kids around the country are tweeting pictures of their unappetizing school lunches and blaming the most prominent advocate for healthier school meals for their "bowls of mush and mystery proteins," Roberto A. Ferdman reports for The Washington Post.

The tweets use the hashtag #ThanksMichelleObama, which dates back to 2012. They were "being sent out at a rate of 40 per minute last week, but started to gain momentum some 10 days back," Ferdman writes.

The tweets and pictures vary, with some presenting a "mealy substance" or mystery food that is supposed to pass for the entree while others poke fun at how pitiful the presentation is.

"We've seen the photos being tweeted," said Sam Kass, executive director of Let's Move!, the organization Obama founded to fight childhood obesity. "But we don't dictate the food that schools serve—school districts do." He added, "We’ve seen thousands of examples of healthy, delicious school lunches that meet the new standards being made across the country by talented school chefs."

Obama has been a key player in the implementation of the new health standards in schools, which mandate an increase in fruits, vegetables and whole grains and place restrictions on calories,sodium, sugar and fat served in a school day. These restrictions were also added to snacks and beverages this year.

Several studies have reported great success with these new requirements. In Virginia, a recent study found that school lunches were "significantly healthier" than home packed lunches and a study in Massachusetts concluded the same thing.

But others say that this healthy food is not being eaten, but instead thrown away. A Harvard School of Public Health study in Massachusetts supports this conclusion, finding that "some 60 percent of vegetables and 40 percent of fresh fruit are thrown away (for good measure, even more vegetables—some 75 percent—were thrown out before the USDA school meal standards went into effect)," Ferdman reports.

Complaining about cafeteria food in certainly not a new phenomena, what is new is that "everyone has a camera on their phone and a public platform to share pictures," Ferdman writes.

As Ky.'s teen-birth rank rises, mother objects to Casey Co. child-development class's baby shower for five pregnant students

Kentucky's ranking for births to females aged 15 to 19 is going up, and five students at Casey County High School are pregnant. A joint baby shower for them during class time recently sent the wrong message about teenage pregnancy, a mother of a teenager at the school told the Casey County News.

Carmen Foster gained custody of her daughter three years ago, but not before the girl heard her biological mother say she enjoyed being pregnant because of all the attention she received. The biological mother left her and six other children with an abusive ex-boyfriend until Foster gained custody, Abigail Whitehouse reports.

"Some of these kids come from situations we can't even imagine," Foster said. "They need daily positive examples to help them reach their potential. I don't want my daughter thinking that being a pregnant teen will get her tons of positive attention from everyone at school."

Foster, who was a teenage mother, said she has spent years instructing her daughter that she doesn't need approval from boys to have self-confidence. "I want better for our girls," she said. "I believe in love and acceptance and helping in any way that I can, but I also believe in doing so responsibly. This was not a message to be sent out at school."

CCHS Principal Josh Blevins told the newspaper that the baby shower, in a Human and Child Development class, "was a way of saying, here are some things to help get them on their feet. We are just simply addressing the fact that this has happened, and now it's our responsibility to educate these women on how to care for their children." Blevins said the class is an elective, and participation isn't required.

Jackie Allen, who teaches the class, said the students were working through a unit on pregnancy and childbirth unit, and asked if they could throw a surprise baby shower for the five students. "I think it was a positive experience for my students and for the girls they invited," Allen said. "I think that students who are pregnant need all the support they can get. I don't think there was any kind of glorifying teen pregnancy."

Kentucky ranked seventh out of 51 (50 states and the District of Columbia) in 2011 birth rates among females 15-19, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In 2008, the state Kentucky ranked 19th.

Pediatricians say middle and high schools shouldn't start class before 8:30 a.m., as a way to help sleep-deprived teenagers

The American Academy of Pediatrics recently recommended that middle and high schools not start of classes until 8:30 a.m. at the earliest.

An estimated 40 percent of high schools in the U.S. start classes before 8 a.m.; only 15 percent start at 8:30 a.m. or later. The median middle-school start time is 8 a.m., and more than 20 percent of middle schools start at 7:45 a.m. or earlier, according to the AAP release. The Kentucky Department of Education doesn't track school start times, but those are locally available.

When children become adolescents, their sleep-wake cycles begin to shift up to two hours later, meaning their bodies naturally want to go to bed and get up two hours later than before puberty hit, says the release. This makes it hard for teens to fall asleep before 11 p.m., and even more difficult to get to class by 7:30 or earlier the next day.

“The research is clear that adolescents who get enough sleep have a reduced risk of being overweight or suffering depression, are less likely to be involved in automobile accidents, and have better grades, higher standardized test scores and an overall better quality of life,” said Judith Owens, pediatrician and lead author of the AAP policy statement. “Studies have shown that delaying early school start times is one key factor that can help adolescents get the sleep they need to grow and learn.”

Pediatricians "urge middle and high schools to aim for start times that allow students to receive 8.5 to 9.5 hours of sleep a night," the group says. In most cases, that means a school start time of 8:30 a.m. or later, depending on average commuting times and other local factors.

Many studies have documented that "the average adolescent in the U.S. is "chronically sleep-deprived and pathologically sleepy." Reasons listed for this lack of sleep include homework, extracurricular activities, after-school jobs and use of technology that can keep them up late on weeknights.

And while students, parents, and all those involved need to learn about healthy sleep habits for adolescents and about the biological and environmental factors that contribute to insufficient sleep, schools should also adjust their start times, AAP said, citing studies showing that a too-early start time "is a critical contributor to chronic sleep deprivation among American adolescents."

“By advocating for later school start times for middle and high school students, the AAP is both promoting the compelling scientific evidence that supports school start time delay as an important public health measure, and providing support and encouragement to those school districts around the country contemplating that change," Owens said in the release.

Smoking among Kentucky youth dropped by one-fourth from 2011 to 2013, biennial CDC survey determines

Photo from TobaccoPreventionK12

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

Fewer Kentucky high-school students are smoking cigarettes. The state dropped to sixth place from first in high-school smoking in the 2013 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System report.

In the survey, which is done in odd-numbered years, 17.9 percent of Kentucky high-schoolers reported that they were smoking cigarettes, down one-fourth from 24.1 percent in 2011. Nationwide, the current rate is 15.7 percent.

In 1997, when the CDC first started tracking student smoking, 47 percent of Kentucky youth reported smoking.  The state has now cut that bu more than half, and gone beyond its "Healthy Kentuckians 2020" goal of reducing youth smoking to 19 percent.

The survey sampled 1,626 Kentucky high-school students and got responses from 85 percent. The final sample of 1,382 is subject to an error margin of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points, leaving no doubt that youth smoking in Kentucky declined significantly from 2011 to 2013 -- by 25.7 percent, if the figures are without sampling error.

Before state officials knew about the big drop in 2011-13, they set a goal of decreasing youth smoking by another 10 percent by 2019 as part of the "kyhealthnow" initiative.

“When I announced our ambitious goals for kyhealthnow in February of this year, smoking was one of the most obvious areas we needed to address,” Gov. Steve Beshear said in a news release. “I am pleased to see teen smoking trending downward, but I remain committed to further reducing cigarette use among our youth.”

Kyhealthnow is an aggressive plan to improve the state's collective health. One component of the plan to cut youth smoking by 10 percent includes comprehensive smoke-free policies and tobacco-free schools.

Only 33 of Kentucky's 173 public school districts are tobacco-free, according to the state Department for Public Health. Since nearly nine out of 10 smokers start by age 18, early intervention is a "key element in reducing the overall burden of tobacco use in Kentucky," the release says.

Youth who smoke can develop cardiovascular disease, smaller lungs that don’t function normally, wheezing that can lead to asthma, and eventually cellular damage that can lead to cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, type 2 diabetes and a host of other diseases, according to the release.

“While we’re pleased to see a reduction in youth smoking, it’s important to note that we still have too many youth who smoke and others who are exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke,” said state Health Commissioner Stephanie Mayfield. “The health consequences of smoking are seen throughout many of the diseases impacting Kentuckians. Smoking cessation could significantly reduce the rates of cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases which are linked to tobacco use.”

Smoking cessation programs are available to people 15 and older in Kentucky, and are available in multiple languages. For more information call 1-800-784-8669 or go to www.QuitNowKentucky.org.