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Decline in Teen Smoking Falters as States Spend Less on Prevention
October 31, 2005

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Research Summary

A new report says that a drop in state spending on youth tobacco prevention efforts in recent years corresponded with a leveling-off of youth smoking rates after previous declines.

HealthDay News reported Oct. 27 that states spent an increasing amount of money on TV antismoking campaigns between 1999 and 2002 -- funded by the 1998 nationwide tobacco settlement -- but spending fell 28 percent between 2002 and 2003 as states diverted the money to cover budget deficits. Researchers said the shift could be part of the reason why youth smoking declines leveled off between 2002 and 2004, after falling steadily since 1997.

"It does seem that the more [states] spend on tobacco-control programs, the greater the impact," said David Nelson of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Office on Smoking and Health. "States need to support anti-tobacco activities. One of the key components is a media presence."

"This is an inevitable result of the cuts to state tobacco-prevention programs that we've see over the last several years," said Danny McGoldrick of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. "States never did a good job of allocating their tobacco-settlement dollars and their tobacco tax dollars to programs to reduce tobacco use. They've done even a worse job in the past few years."

McGoldrick said states could make a real difference if they spent even 10 percent of their tobacco-settlement funds on youth smoking prevention.

The research appears in the Oct. 28, 2005 issue of the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

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