According to

the 1996 Georgia Vital Statistics Report, tobacco use caused more than

twice the number of preventable deaths due to motor vehicle injuries,

suicides, homicides, alcohol, and drug-induced deaths combined. Ten thousand

or more Georgians are killed and $1.2 billion is drained from our economy

in health care costs by tobacco use each year. Approximately 80 percent

of this dollar cost is born by taxpayers.

An additional

$38-108 million in healthcare costs per year are directly related to the

health problems incurred by infants whose mothers smoked during pregnancy

(accounting for 17-26 percent of low birth-weight babies, up to 14 percent

of premature deliveries), and/or who are exposed to secondhand smoke.

Maternal smoking accounts for 10 percent of all infant deaths.

These costs

continue to increase as healthcare becomes more technologically advanced,

and expensive. As we experience the "graying of America," the

aging population of tobacco users ensures that these costs will continue

well into the future.

And what of

the future? It has recently been estimated that 30,000 children in Georgia

start smoking every year, and another 10,000 begin using spit tobacco

products. Even more frightening is the projected 131,000 premature deaths

that will occur as these children grow to nicotine addicted adulthood,

shearing an average of 15 years from their life span.

Among children

and adolescents tobacco use generally progresses in four stages: forming

accepting attitudes and beliefs about tobacco; experimenting; regular

tobacco use; and finally, nicotine addiction. Tobacco use is usually the

first experimental drug youth come in contact with, and it can have immediate

as well as long term negative physical effects on health. Spit tobacco

can contain four times the amount of nicotine in one chew as there is

in one cigarette.

There is also

a fairly new fad, that encourages teens to smoke cigars and foreign made

flavored cigarettes called "Bidis." Bidis are particularly hazardous

in that they are foreign made with little quality control.

Therefore,

in addition to containing possibly four times the amount of nicotine of

an American made cigarette: they are just as liable to contain any number

of contaminants. But youth are enticed by their exotic look and taste.

There are several

other facets of the burden of tobacco on our children.

In Georgia,

the average age of initiation for tobacco use is between 10 and 13. The

1999 Georgia Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) revealed that 27 percent of eighth-grade

students are current tobacco users. More than half of all middle school

students have experimented with some form of tobacco (1999 GYTS).

In 1999, 39

percent of Georgia's eighth-grade students reported having tried cigars.

During the 1999 compliance checks for sales to minors, more than 40 percent

of underage youth were able to purchase their own cigarettes through vending

machines in Georgia.

A 1997 national

survey indicated that among students under 18 years old who were current

smokers, almost 67 percent reported never being asked to show proof of

age when buying cigarettes in a store.

An estimated

$146 million is spent on tobacco advertising in Georgia each year. A 1998

national survey showed that, of adolescents who are current smoker, more

than 92 percent report using the three most heavily advertised brands

of cigarettes.

Though we may

sometimes wonder what all the fuss is about, secondhand smoke is also

a danger that bares a cost in lives and health. Over 53,000 deaths and

illness in over 300,000 children every year are attributable to secondhand

smoke. The damaging effects on infants and children include: Sudden Infant

Death Syndrome (SIDS), asthma induction and exacerbation (bringing on

attacks), bronchitis and pneumonia, middle ear infection, chronic respiratory

symptoms, and low birth weight.

We can better

understand why mere exposure to tobacco smoke results in such severe consequences

when we recognize that secondhand smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals

43 of which are classified as Group A Carcinogens (cancer causing agents).

Secondhand

smoke is the third leading preventable cause of death in the United States.

The burden of tobacco use in terms of the loss of human life and productivity

due to debilitating disease is great. It is a major cause of heart disease,

bronchitis, emphysema, and stroke, cancers of the lung, larynx, pharynx,

and esophagus, and a contributing factor to cancers of the bladder, pancreas,

cervix and kidney.

Spit or chew

tobacco is a major cause of cancers of the mouth. In 1998, 24 percent

of Georgia adults were current smokers.

In the final

analysis, the burden of tobacco use falls on us all economically, socially,

and/or physically. It has been estimated that building a comprehensive,

sustained, multi-year tobacco prevention program would save the taxpayers

billions of dollars, and more importantly save thousands of lives.

While the CDC

recommends a minimum of $42.5 million per year (or $5.69 per capita) for

such a program in Georgia, the state currently allocates per capita funding

of only $2.11 for tobacco prevention. This amounts to only 37.1 percent

of the recommended minimum.

Of the $150

million of the states' tobacco settlement payments in the FY 2001 budget

signed by Governor Roy Barnes, only $15.8 million was allocated for tobacco

prevention and cessation programs.

In his report

"Reducing Tobacco Use," Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher states:

"It is clear that the major barrier to more rapid reductions in tobacco

use is the effort of the tobacco industry to promote the use of tobacco

products. Our lack of greater progress in tobacco control is more the

result of failure to implement proven strategies than it is the lack of

knowledge about what to do."

For more information

on this subject contact Mrs. Jill Holmes Long, Tobacco Coordinator, District

4 Public Health in Griffin. Or, you may wish to log on to the following

sites: www.chargecoalition.org/information/index.html or www.cdc.go/tobacco/index.htm.