Missouri fails in tobacco control and prevention efforts

ST. LOUIS -- Just last month, a state study found almost one-quarter of Missourians ages 9 through 18 are overweight, up from 2001.

Now, Missouri is getting failing grades for tobacco control and prevention efforts. The news comes in a report being released today by the American Lung Association.

The grades appear in a national report card analyzing state tobacco control laws in four key areas -- youth access to tobacco, smoke-free air, tobacco program funding and cigarette excise taxes.

Nationwide, 440,000 Americans die each year from smoking-related diseases, including 54,000 from exposure to secondhand smoke.

Missouri received failing grades for:

Smoke-free air laws.

Tobacco program funding.

Tobacco taxes.

Bert Malone of the Missouri Department of Health said the report card accurately portrays the current state of tobacco control.

Malone, director of the department's division of chronic disease prevention and health promotion, said the department knows there are effective strategies to help people quit and avoid smoking, "we just need the resources to implement them."

Lori Pickens, chief executive of the American Lung Association of Eastern Missouri, agreed. "We're sitting in a state with the third-highest smoking rates, with zero dollars available to address tobacco control and prevention," she said.

In 1998, the tobacco industry agreed to pay $206 billion to 48 states after the states filed suits to recover tobacco-related Medicaid health care costs.

In Missouri, however, the settlement funds were used to cover the state budget shortfall.

An initiative on the November ballot in Missouri would have generated funds for anti-smoking programs by increasing the cigarette excise tax to 72 cents per pack. But it failed to pass.

The report found that most states spend only a fraction of what federal health officials have recommended on measures like anti-tobacco programs at schools and counseling to help people quit smoking.

In St. Louis, meanwhile, the sponsor of a proposal to ban smoking in all city-owned buildings says his measure is being stalled.

Alderman Freeman Bosley Sr. blames the "close relationship" between Lambert Airport Director Leonard Griggs and Alderman Greg Carter for his bill being stuck in a committee headed by Carter.

Carter's company has a security contract at Lambert. Griggs and Carter denied any discussion of the bill.

St. Louis is one of the last major cities to allow smoking in public buildings. However, several cities have designated smoking areas at their airports.

Bosley's bill is expected to pass in some form, but it's unclear whether it will include Lambert Field.