SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--California is falling short when it comes to the cancer fight and one of the reasons is its low tobacco tax rate. This is according to How Do You Measure Up?: A Progress Report on State Legislative Activity to Reduce Cancer Incidence and Mortality. The report was released today by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), showing California met cancer-fighting benchmarks in only 5 of 10 areas.
“Fortunately, voters can change that cancer outlook by voting yes on Prop 56 on this November’s ballot,” said ACS CAN Grassroots Director Lori Bremner. “In California alone, 173,200 people are expected to be diagnosed with cancer and nearly 12,000 will die from it this year. Smoking accounts for about 30 percent of all cancers. Raising the cigarette tax by $2 per pack, with an equivalent increase on other tobacco products including e-cigarettes, will not only save lives, but health care costs as well.”
Because of smoking, California taxpayers spend $3.5 billion dollars each year on treating cancer and other tobacco-related diseases through Medi-Cal. The majority of funds generated by the new tax will be used to improve existing health care programs, prevent smoking and fund research into cancer and other tobacco-related diseases.
In its 14th year, the How Do You Measure Up? report rates states in 10 specific areas of public policy that can help fight cancer. A color-coded system classifies how well a state is doing in each issue. Green shows that a state has adopted best practices; yellow indicates moderate movement toward the benchmark and red shows where states are falling short.
California made big progress this year on the smoke-free front when legislation was passed and signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown that eliminates loopholes in the state’s smoke-free workplace law. As of June when the law took effect, employees and business patrons in California workplaces are protected from deadly secondhand smoke, which turned the report’s map from yellow to green.
One area where California is showing up red is tobacco control funding. While smoking rates have declined, use of other products such as e-cigarettes have skyrocketed, especially among youth. Tobacco prevention and education programs in California are woefully underfunded. Passage of Prop 56 would move California from red to green by directing a portion of the increased tobacco tax revenue to fund prevention and education.
ACS CAN, the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, supports evidence-based policy and legislative solutions designed to eliminate cancer as a major health problem. ACS CAN works to encourage elected officials and candidates to make cancer a top national priority. ACS CAN gives ordinary people extraordinary power to fight cancer with the training and tools they need to make their voices heard. For more information, visit www.acscan.org.
Paid for by Fight Cancer – Yes on 56, sponsored by American Cancer Society, Inc. and American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, Inc. Major funding by American Cancer Society, Inc.