OPINION: It’s time to stub out the tobacco epidemic in Brooklyn

June 4, 2015 By New York State Sen. Kevin Parker For Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Sen. Kevin Parker. Photo courtesy of Sen. Parker’s Office

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On the heels of World No Tobacco Day, I am writing to you to raise awareness with regard to the life-affecting health conditions resulting from tobacco consumption. This day has particular significance to me, as it touched my life, my siblings’ and that of my dear departed mother as we lost my father much too early because of afflictions related to a lifetime of tobacco use.

New York City has experienced many successes in tobacco control over the years. A major turning point, the 2002 NYC Smoke-Free Air Act, followed by expanded legislation at the state level in 2003, has resulted in an all-time reduction to 14 percent in the city’s smoking rate and greatly limited New Yorkers’ exposure to secondhand smoke. One of the first in the U.S., this legislation propelled a national and world-wide effort to stem the cigarette smoking health threat and to protect the unwitting by-stander from secondhand smoke in public spaces.

Regrettably, in spite of the progress in reducing cigarette smoking in New York State we now have over one million smokers in New York City alone for the first time in nearly 10 years and the smoking and tobacco consumption rate is on the rise. The smoker count in Brooklyn is currently about 313,000, and from among them 5,000 youths of whom one-third is predicted to die prematurely as a result. Tobacco consumption is still the leading cause of preventable disease and death in New York state.

The New York State Department of Health reports that tobacco consumption kills 28,200 New Yorkers and afflicts another 600,000 with serious diseases directly attributable to their smoking. Annual health care costs directly attributable to smoking are $10.39 billion in New York state of which $6.62 billion are paid by the state Medicaid program.

On a global scale, the situation is dire. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the tobacco epidemic is the worst public health threat the world has ever faced, causing 100 million deaths in the 20th century and predicted to be the cause one billion deaths in the 21th century.

World No Tobacco Day, sponsored by WHO, is held annually on May 31 and engages people from around the world to stand up against tobacco. This day is the informative global stage on which those advocating for the elimination of the tobacco epidemic speak to the risks associated with tobacco use, create awareness and recognize community-based leaders who are looking to create change to reduce tobacco use.

Health advocates, community organizations and legislators in Brooklyn have come together in many instances to limit the prevalence of tobacco in our Borough and to protect the health of our most vulnerable, children and the aging. Increasing the age required to purchase tobacco (A.237 Rosenthal, S.3155, Stavisky), expanding the supply of 100 percent smoke-free housing, and reducing youth exposure to tobacco marketing (A. 3100, McDonnel) are among the efforts represented in currently proposed legislation I have introduced S.2687 which by increasing the sales tax on a pack of cigarettes makes the cost prohibitive to young people. In addition, my bill S2790 seeks to prohibit the installation of cigarette vending machines within 350 feet of a school, church, synagogue or other places of worship.

Regrettably, those of us seeking to bring forward the harmful effects of tobacco consumption face the slick and savvy branding and marketing of the profit seeking tobacco giants always at the ready to recruit more teens and condemn them to nicotine addiction. We need only look at the proliferation of advertisements directed to kids and teenagers for e-cigarettes, bubblegum shisha flavors for hookahs, and tobacco products disguised as candy at your local bodega to know that there is an aggressive competition for a new generation of consumers.

I join NYC Smoke-Free at Public Health Solutions to make everyday World No Tobacco Day to protect children and our community at large from the tobacco epidemic. Visit nycsmokefree.org to learn more about how you can help create an environment that supports healthy lifestyles in Brooklyn and beyond.