Virginia First Lady Maureen McDonnell Joins First Lady Michelle Obama at “Taking on Childhood Obesity” Event in Alexandria Yesterday

ALEXANDRIA - Virginia First Lady Maureen McDonnell joined First Lady Michelle Obama to kick-off Mrs. Obama’s “Taking on Childhood Obesity” initiative yesterday. The event was held at the YMCA in Alexandria. Also in attendance were Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, and Dr. Judith Palfrey, President of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Both Mrs. McDonnell and Mrs. Obama are advocates for childhood obesity prevention and the importance of teaching children how to live an active lifestyle and eat healthy.

Speaking about Mrs. McDonnell at yesterday’s event, Mrs. Obama remarked, “Let me begin by thanking the new First Lady in the room, Maureen McDonnell. We are going to have a great time working together. She is already very engaged and supportive of these initiatives. And since she's so close I am counting on her to work alongside on some of these issues.”

Mrs. McDonnell has long been an advocate for living a healthy lifestyle. Raising five children, she always stressed the importance of staying active and eating right. Last week, Mrs. McDonnell participated in the First Annual Healthy Youth Day in Richmond, sponsored by the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth, where she spoke with children about physical fitness and healthy living habits. As First Lady, Maureen McDonnell will make childhood obesity prevention one of her chief initiatives.

For more information about yesterday’s event, please visit First Lady Michelle Obama’s website: http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/first-lady-michelle-obama


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Branding ban on cigarette packs?

LONDON (Reuters) – The UK government launched plans on Monday to halve the number of smokers by the end of the decade and said it would consider removing branding from cigarette packets and banning cigarette vending machines.

At the moment, 21 percent of the population smoke and ministers want to reduce that figure to 10 percent by 2020, with a particular focus on young people.

"We've come so far and now we'll go even further -- to push forward and save even more lives," said Health Secretary Andy Burnham.

"One day, in the not too distant future, we'll look back and find it hard to remember why anyone ever smoked in the first place."

The number of people lighting up in Britain has fallen by a quarter in the past decade as a result of various policies including a ban on advertising, putting grisly pictures on packets and raising the age of sale for tobacco to 18.

In 2007, the government joined several others throughout the world in introducing a ban on smoking in virtually all enclosed public places and workplaces.

But despite falling smoking rates, the number of deaths attributed to smoking is still 80,000 a year.

Now restrictions will be reviewed to see if they should be extended to include entrances to buildings so non-smokers do not have to run a gauntlet of smokers.

The government is looking at protecting children from second-hand smoke by promoting smoke-free homes and cars.

Ministers are also to consider the case for plain packaging, and banning the sale of tobacco from vending machines as part of the moves to deter young people.

"Now that we've banned advertising and will soon see an end to attractive displays in shops, the only remaining method of advertising tobacco is the packaging," Burnham said.

"So we will carefully consider whether there is evidence for making tobacco companies use plain packets."

(Reporting by Avril Ormsby, Michael Holden and Kate Kelland; Editing by Steve Addison)

Smokeless-Tobacco Use By 12th Graders Hits 11-Year High

Smokeless-Tobacco Use By 12th Graders Hits 11-Year High
By Richard Craver, Media General News Service

The use of smokeless-tobacco products reached an 11-year high among 12th graders nationwide in 2009, according to the annual Monitoring the Future study released yesterday. The study by University of Michigan researchers found that 8.4 percent of 12th graders used the products within a 30-day period - the highest level since 8.8 percent in 1998.

The rate had been as low as 6.1 percent in 2006 and was 6.5 percent in 2008.The rate of use among 8th graders rose from 3.5 percent in 2008 to 3.7 percent in 2009, while the use among 10th graders increased from 5 percent to 6.5 percent. By comparison, 20.1 percent of 12th graders said they smoked within a 30-day period compared with 20.4 percent in 2008.

The study, in its 35th year, included 46,097 8th, 10th and 12th graders from 389 schools. It also showed that marijuana use is becoming more popular among U.S. teens and that they have cut down on binge drinking and using methamphetamine.

The study comes on the heels of a report released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month that showed that more local high-school students were using marijuana than smoking cigarettes. Most researchers and analysts say that it is too soon to tell whether the combination of new smokeless-tobacco products, particularly at subsidiaries of Reynolds American Inc., and recent prominent advertising in magazines played a prominent role in the increases in the use of smokeless-tobacco products.

But the report is likely to stoke further debate between two sets of anti-smoking groups. One set says smokeless tobacco serves as gateway products for teenagers to cigarettes. The other set encourages the products as a way to reduce the risk of tobacco use compared with cigarettes.

"These new products no doubt appeal to kids because they are easy to conceal, carry the names of youth-popular cigarette brands, and come in candy-like forms and flavors," said Matthew Myers, the president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. "More than 60 percent of smokeless marketing is spent on price discounts, including coupons, that make smokeless tobacco products more affordable and appealing to price-sensitive youth customers."

Among the more outspoken proponents of smokeless-tobacco products as reduced-risk alternatives has been Bill Godshall, the executive director of SmokeFree Pennsylvania. "It appears that more youth smokers, like adult smokers, are beginning to substitute smokeless tobacco for cigarettes," Godshall said. "Since cigarettes are 100 times more hazardous than smokeless tobacco, public health benefits every time a smoker switches to smokeless, regardless of age."

The increased marketing of smokeless tobacco likely has had some effect on teenagers, said Dr. John Spangler, a professor of family and community medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Spangler is involved in federally funded research aimed at developing strategy for reducing use or even quitting smokeless-tobacco products.

"It should be noted that research does not support the concept that people will quit smoking by switching to smokeless," Spangler said. "In fact, there is a very high risk that smokers who turn to smokeless tobacco become dual users of cigarettes and oral tobacco." David Howard, a Reynolds spokesman, said that "it is a guiding principle of the company that youth should not use tobacco products. All of our marketing communications are designed for, and communicate with, adult tobacco consumers."

Although it was the 10th time in the past 12 years that the smoking rate among 12th graders declined, anti-tobacco advocates said they are concerned by the marginal drop. That's because the number of adults who smoke rose from 19.7 percent in 2007 to 20.6 percent - or 46 million Americans - in 2008, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."The proportions of students seeing a great risk associated with being a smoker has leveled off in the past several years," Johnston said.

One factor in the continuing decline of cigarette smoking among teenagers may be hormonal - 81 percent of 8th graders, 80 percent of 10th graders and 75 percent of 12th graders said "they would prefer to date people who don't smoke." "It is clear that any young person today who becomes a smoker will pay an important social price for that choice by becoming less attractive to the great majority of the opposite sex," the researchers said.

Source: Monitoring the Future study by University of Michigan researcher

The FDA Directs Tobacco Companies to Disclose Cigarette Ingredients

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has directed cigarette companies to provide detailed information on their products by June, when the agency for the first time will begin studying the composition of cigarettes in detail, the Associated Press reported Jan. 18.
Tobacco companies also must give the FDA any research they have conducted on the effects of cigarette ingredients.
The FDA will classify the ingredients, determine their relative harm, and possibly ban some ingredients or combinations thereof. Information protected under trade-secret laws won't be publicly disclosed, but the FDA is mandated to publish a list of harmful and potentially dangerous ingredients by the middle of next year.
"Tobacco products today are really the only human-consumed product that we don't know what's in them," said Lawrence R. Deyton, the director of the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products.

From www.jointogether.org

Delegate Paula Miller and Councilwoman Daun Hester Visit Program in Action

August 18, 2009

Delegate Paula Miller and Councilwoman Daun Hester paid a visit to the Tarrallton Community Center in Norfolk to observe the Life Skills Training program in Action. Both Delegate Miller and Councilwoman Hester took time to let the kids know what a wonderful job they are doing.

Youth Advocate of the Year Award - Prevention Connections

Prevention Connections is currently accepting nominations for the Youth Advocate of the Year Award. Below you can find the links to the Prevention Connections web site and the nomination form.

Please share this information with anyone who may be interested.
Deadline: September 21, 2009

PC Youth Advocate award letter

Nomination form

American Lung Assocation Launches NOT Web Site

The American Lung Association in Virginia is pleased to announce a new and exciting website for teens – www.vanot.org. This is a great resource where teens can begin to find out how, and why, they should stay away from cigarettes. By exploring some of the posted hard facts and other useful links, young people are exposed to an abundance of valuable information. In addition to this, teens can find out what the Not On Tobacco program is all about and where it is being offered throughout the state. Check it out today!