PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Pennsylvania is failing in its efforts to prevent smoking, according to the American Lung Association. In its 22nd annual State of Tobacco Control report released on Wednesday, the American Lung Association graded all 50 states on their tobacco control policies, and Pennsylvania received mostly failing grades.
There are five categories on the report card that deal with efforts to prevent tobacco use, including tobacco prevention and cessation funding, tobacco taxes, and restrictions on flavored tobacco products. Pennsylvania received F’s in those three categories.
The commonwealth received D’s in the other two categories: smoke-free air and access to cessation services.
The experts recommend that the Keystone State concentrate on closing clean indoor air loopholes and expanding state funding for tobacco control programs.
“The nice thing is that we do have opportunities with our legislature,” said Aimee VanCleave, director of advocacy for the American Lung Association in Pennsylvania. “States like Pennsylvania actually receive funding every year that can be used toward tobacco cessation efforts. They just don’t spend right now as much as the CDC recommends to try and address this problem.”
Presently, VanCleave said the commonwealth spends about 13% of what the CDC recommends.
There are more than 22,000 smoke-attributed deaths per year in Pennsylvania, on average, according to the report, and annual health care costs directly caused by smoking amount to more than $6.38 billion.
Additionally, almost 20% of Pennsylvania high schoolers are using tobacco products on a regular basis.
“This is why we need to make sure we are increasing the funding we use to try to increase our prevention efforts,” VanCleave added.
The report found New Jersey in a somewhat better standing, with a mix bag of grades ranging from B to F. Experts recommend that the Garden State make casinos smoke-free and focus on ending the sale of all flavored tobacco products.
Meanwhile, Delaware received a couple of A’s — a couple of F’s. Delaware is being advised to center more on its tobacco tax structure.
See how the American Lung Association report grades your state here.