To the Editor
This month is the one-year anniversary of the Family Smoking Prevention & Tobacco Control Act that was signed into law on June 22, 2009. The new law gives the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate the manufacturing, marketing and sale of tobacco products.
Tobacco companies are now required to provide larger, more visible, and more informative health warning labels, including color and graphics, on tobacco product packages and requires larger, more visible, and more informative health warning labels on advertisements. Smokeless tobacco warnings now must cover 30 percent of the two principal display panels of each package.
According to the New Mexico Department of Health 2007 Youth Risk and Resiliency survey, Socorro youth use smokeless tobacco at the rate of 17.3% compared to the state percentage rate of 11.8%. In the 2007 YRRS, a current smokeless tobacco user is defined as a youth in grades 9-12 in a public school who reports having used chew, snuff, or dip on one or more days in the past month.
Nationwide, tobacco use kills more than 400,000 people and costs nearly $100 billion in health care bills each year. Until June, 2009 tobacco products were virtually unregulated to protect consumers' health (Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids).
If you have questions regarding the Family Smoking Prevention & Tobacco Control Act or would like information about the NM Department of Health’s 1-800 QUIT NOW toll-free quit line, please call Socorro General Hospital’s Healthy Family Initiative at 575-835-8707. Thank You.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
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