Maintain Funding for Tobacco Prevention in Iowa!
- av: ACS Iowa
- mottagare: Iowa House and Senate
The Iowa House is proposing zeroing out funding for programs that encourage teens and children not to start smoking, and help Iowa smokers quit. This is despite the fact that more than 68 percent of Iowans support these programs.
With the help of these programs, youth smoking rates have dropped from 33% in 2000 to 20% in 2008. And adult smoking decreased from 23% in 2000 to 14% in 2008. Iowa is tied with California for the 2nd-lowest adult smoking rate in the nation. Only Utah's is lower.
Despite these remarkable successes, smoking remains the number one cause of preventable death in our state, killing 4,400 Iowans a year.
Quitline Iowa, a service that helps Iowans quit smoking, is anticipating a budget shortfall of $453,000, hindering them from providing their service that so many residents need.
Please sign this petition today asking the Iowa House and Senate to maintain funding for tobacco prevention programs.
Dear [Decision Maker],
I am writing to express my disappointment that Iowa's state government is considering zeroing out funding for tobacco prevention and cessation programs. I believe these programs are critical to the health of our state, and that funding must be maintained.
According to a poll done last year by Selzer & Co. for the Iowa Tobacco Prevention Alliance, 85% of Iowa voters feel that it is a proper role of state government to encourage children and teenagers not to start smoking. And 68% of those surveyed indicate they also view it as an appropriate function of state government to help Iowans stop smoking.
It has been shown that these services really do work. Youth smoking rates have dropped from 33% in 2000 to 20% in 2008. And adult smoking decrease from 23% in 2000 to 14% in 2008. Iowa is tied with California for the 2nd-lowest adult smoking rate in the nation, and I want it to be the lowest!
Despite these remarkable successes, smoking remains the number one cause of preventable death in our state, killing 4,400 Iowans a year.
Please do everything in your power to maintain funding for tobacco prevention and cessation programs. Thank you for your time.
