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Health Department Recognizes Tobacco Free Florida Week

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Did you know that in just one year, a pack-a-day smoker in Florida can spend more than $2,000 on cigarettes?  That can add up to more than $10,000 in just five years.

The Florida Department of Health in Hernando County recognizes May 7-13, 2017 as Tobacco Free Florida Week.

Here are additional facts about the financial and health costs of smoking:

Financial Costs of Smoking

  • Smoking costs the United States more than $300 billion dollars each year, including nearly $170 billion in direct medical care for adults.[iv]
  • More than $156 billion in lost productivity due to premature death and exposure to  secondhand smoke. [v]

 

Health Costs of Smoking

  • Smoking can cause cancer almost anywhere in your body  and almost1 5 different types of cancer. [vi],[vii]  About 30 percent of cancer deaths in Florida are caused by cigarette smoking.[viii]
  • On average, smokers die 10 years earlier than nonsmokers.[ix] For every person who, dies, at least 30 people live with a serious smoking-related illness.[x]
  • Smoking causes more than 480,000 deaths each year in the United States and remains the leading cause of preventable disease and death in Florida and the United States.[xi]

 

Tobacco Free Florida Program

 

  • In November 2006, Floridians voted overwhelmingly in support of a state constitutional amendment to fund a tobacco education and use prevention program.

 

  • Since the launch of Tobacco Free Florida, a significant decrease in smoking rates has led to billions of dollars and countless lives saved.
  •  The adult smoking rate was 21.0 percent in 2006. It is now the lowest it has ever been – 15.8 percent.[xii],[xiii]
  • There are now approximately 451,000 fewer adult smokers in Florida than there were 10 years ago.
  • From 2007 to 2015, the reduction in adult smoking rates resulted in approximately $17.7 billion in savings in cumulative smoking-related health care costs. That’s a 16 percent decline.[xiv]
  • An estimated $3.2 billion in smoking-related health care costs was saved in 2015 as a result of declines in adult smoking in Florida.[xv]
  • If the adult smoking rate declines as expected, the state will save $8.2 billion between 2016 and 2020 in cumulative smoking-related personal health care costs.[xvi]

 

  •  The youth smoking rate has decreased from 10.6 percent in 2006 to 3.0 percent in 2016 – an astounding 71 percent decrease.[xvii],[xviii]
  • More than 159,000 Floridians have successfully quit tobacco using Tobacco Free Florida’s free resources.
  • Quit attempts across the state have increased as a result of the Tobacco Free Florida campaign.[xix] The campaign has also been linked to reducing relapses among those who have quit.[xx]

 

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About the Florida Department of Health

The department, nationally accredited by the Public Health Accreditation Board, works to protect, promote and improve the health of all people in Florida through integrated state, county and community efforts.

Follow us on Twitter at @HealthyFla and on Facebook. For more information about the Florida Department of Health please visit www.FloridaHealth.gov.

 

About Tobacco Free Florida

The department’s Tobacco Free Florida campaign is a statewide cessation and prevention campaign funded by Florida’s tobacco settlement fund. Since 2007, more than 159,000 Floridians have successfully quit, using one of Tobacco Free Florida's free tools and services. To learn more about Tobacco Free Florida’s Quit Your Way services, visit www.tobaccofreeflorida.com or follow the campaign on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TobaccoFreeFlorida or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/tobaccofreefla.


[i]Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, State Excise and Sales Taxes per Pack of Cigarettes, Total Amounts & State Rankings, 2017.

[ii] U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking: 50 Years of Progress. A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2014.

2 Xu X, Bishop EE, Kennedy SM, Simpson SA, Pechacek TF. Annual Healthcare Spending Attributable to Cigarette Smoking: An Update. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 2014;48(3):326–33 [accessed 2016 Dec 20].

3 Xu X, Bishop EE, Kennedy SM, Simpson SA, Pechacek TF. Annual Healthcare Spending Attributable to Cigarette Smoking: An Update. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 2014;48(3):326–33 [accessed 2016 Dec 20].

4 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking: 50 Years of Progress. A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2014.

[v]U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking: 50 Years of Progress. A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2014.

[vi] U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking: 50 Years of Progress. A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2014.

[vii] U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Let's Make the Next Generation Tobacco-Free: Your Guide to the 50th Anniversary Surgeon General's Report on Smoking and Health. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2014 [accessed 2015 Oct 19].

[viii] Lortet-Tieulent J, Goding Sauer A, Siegel RL, Miller KD, Islami F, Fedewa SA, Jacobs EJ, Jemal A. State-Level Cancer Mortality Attributable to Cigarette Smoking in the United States. JAMA Intern Med. 2016;176(12):1792-1798. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2016.6530

[ix] Jha P, Ramasundarahettige C, Landsman V, et al. 21st Century Hazards of Smoking and Benefits of Cessation in the United States. New England Journal of Medicine 2013;368:341–50 [accessed 2017 Mar 28].

[x] U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2014

[xi] U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking: 50 Years of Progress. A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2014.

[xii] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey Data, Atlanta, Georgia: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2006.

[xiii] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey Data. Atlanta, Georgia: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2016.

[xiv] Mann, Nathan M, Nonnemaker, James M., Thompson, Jesse. "Smoking-Attributable Health Care Costs in Florida and Potential Health Care Cost Savings Associated with Reductions in Adult Smoking Prevalence." 2016.

[xv] Mann, Nathan M, Nonnemaker, James M., Thompson, Jesse. "Smoking-Attributable Health Care Costs in Florida and Potential Health Care Cost Savings Associated with Reductions in Adult Smoking Prevalence." 2016.

[xvi] Mann, Nathan M, Nonnemaker, James M., Thompson, Jesse. "Smoking-Attributable Health Care Costs in Florida and Potential Health Care Cost Savings Associated with Reductions in Adult Smoking Prevalence." 2016.

[xvii] Florida Youth Tobacco Survey (FYTS), Florida Department of Health, Bureau of Epidemiology, 2006.

[xviii] Florida Youth Tobacco Survey (FYTS), Florida Department of Health, Bureau of Epidemiology, 2016.

[xix] Nonnemaker, James M., et al. "The effect of exposure to media campaign messages on adult cessation." Addictive behaviors 49 (2015): 13-19.

[xx] Nonnemaker, James M., et al. "The effect of exposure to media campaign messages on adult cessation." Addictive behaviors 49 (2015): 13-19.

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The Hernando County Health Department uses the State Immunization Registry (FLSHOTS) to certify all the Immunization Record Forms (680) that are issued in their clinics. Children’s vaccines are provided at no cost. During the months of June, July and August immunizations will be done as walk ins only at both Health Department locations. Walk ins for child immunizations hours are 8AM-11AM and from 1PM-3:30PM Monday through Friday except for the 3rd Thursday of the month.

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