http://www.breathend.com Upper Missouri District Health Unit en-us Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.breathend.com/syndicate/rssnews.png http://www.breathend.com/news/ http://www.breathend.com/news/detail.asp?newsID=208
According to the Centers for Disease Control, even brief exposure to secondhand smoke can trigger a heart attack. In North Dakota, tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable deaths. Last year, tobacco use killed 800 North Dakotans prematurely and cost the state over $247 million in healthcare. The North Dakota Center for Tobacco Prevention and Control Policy (the Center) educates North Dakotans on the dangers of tobacco use. The Center promotes comprehensive smoke-free ordinances to save lives and money, and now there is more proof that smoke-free ordinances do both.

A recent study by the Mayo clinic confirms that reducing exposure to secondhand smoke significantly reduces the risk of sudden cardiac death and heart attacks. The study, published in November 2011, shows that sudden cardiac deaths dropped by half and heart attack rates dropped by 45 percent in Olmsted County, Minnesota, in the first 18 months after a smoke-free ordinance was passed making all public areas and workplaces smoke-free. Adult smoking rates dropped by 23 percent while other risk factors – high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and obesity – increased or remained the same.

The harm caused by secondhand smoke is well-documented, yet many people in North Dakota are still not protected from its dangers in public places. Currently, 37 percent of North Dakotans are protected by local comprehensive smoke-free laws. While that number marks progress for the heart health of the state, more work needs to be done so everyone is protected from the dangers of secondhand smoke.

"This study shows that smoke-free ordinances save lives by reducing the harm caused by secondhand smoke," says Jeanne Prom, executive director of the Center. "That's why it's so important to fund tobacco prevention programs and to work for comprehensive smoke-free ordinances in our local communities to protect our workers and our citizens."

The Mayo Clinic study proves that smoke-free ordinances reduce heart disease and save lives that would otherwise be lost to tobacco use or secondhand smoke exposure. During American Heart Month and every month, we're working to help people quit tobacco use, prevent youth from starting, and eliminate exposure to secondhand smoke. Together, we can save money and save lives in North Dakota.

Read the Mayo Clinic study here.]]> Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.breathend.com/news/detail.asp?newsID=207
The Center for Tobacco Prevention and Control was created by a statewide initiated measure in 2008 to drive tobacco-free policies that reduce secondhand smoke and promote a tobacco-free North Dakota. The people of North Dakota voted to use tobacco settlement dollars to prevent tobacco use and the harms caused by it.

Since 2009, we have achieved many positive results that are saving lives and saving money for the people of North Dakota.

One of the center's missions has been to coordinate with local public health units across the state to promote the adoption and enforcement of tobacco-free policies on school campuses. Since the comprehensive program was put into place, the number of North Dakota school districts that have adopted comprehensive tobacco-free policies has increased from 60 to 102.

In addition to K-12 schools, we also work to promote tobacco-free college campuses across North Dakota. Colleges and universities that enforce comprehensive tobacco-free policies have increased from five to 12 campuses. These policies are a critical component that prevent young adults from starting to use tobacco.

And, our work is paying off.

According to the 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Survey of North Dakota high school students, smoking rates among high school students decreased from 22.4 percent in 2009 to 19.4 percent in 2011. It's not just smoking rates that are down, either. The survey also reported a decrease in the use of other tobacco products, such as chewing tobacco, snuff and dip, from 15.3 percent in 2009 to 13.6 percent in 2011.

The positive effects of our work can be felt across all of North Dakota, not just on school campuses. Since the comprehensive program was put in place, an additional five communities have passed smoke-free ordinances prohibiting smoking in public places, including bars, bringing the total number of smoke-free communities to seven in North Dakota.

And, there are more communities working toward that same goal. "Smoke-free" is becoming the norm in businesses, cities, public places and college campuses, which has effectively contributed to the decline of tobacco use among adults in North Dakota, from 18.1 percent in 2008 to 17.4 percent in 2010.

We also have waged a successful advertising campaign that has educated the people of North Dakota about the expensive cost of tobacco use, in both lives lost and dollars spent.

In addition, an independent assessment report commended our efforts as well as the state Department of Health, local public health units and other partners in reducing the health and social costs of tobacco use in North Dakota.

Dr. Kyle Muus of the Center for Rural Health and one of the report's authors said that our program and staff have done a good job in working toward our goals, especially considering how early in the process we are.

We are incredibly pleased by the positive results we've seen so far, but our work won't be done until we help all smokers quit and tobacco use in North Dakota is driven to the low single digits. Despite the success we've achieved, we still face some daunting challenges as we continue to work toward saving lives and saving money in North Dakota.

Even though public opinion tells us that the people of North Dakota want and need tobacco-free policies, the influence of Big Tobacco is very strong. Every year, the tobacco industry spends $12.8 billion nationwide marketing its products. That's more than $35 million a day or roughly $25 promoting tobacco for every $1 we spend fighting it.

But the fight against tobacco is a winnable battle. Science and experience provide us with proven, cost-effective strategies that prevent kids from using tobacco, help current tobacco users quit and protect everyone from the harmful effects of secondhand smoke.

Thanks to the voters, North Dakota has one of only two fully-funded tobacco prevention programs in the country. We are dedicated to continuing our efforts to save lives and money by lowering and preventing tobacco use in our state.

Will is chairman of the Tobacco Prevention and Control Executive Committee.

From the Grand Forks Herald]]> Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.breathend.com/news/detail.asp?newsID=206
A majority of Cavalier County adult residents – 72.5 percent – support a local ordinance that would protect the health of all workers. In addition to assessing support for a local, comprehensive smoke-free ordinance in Cavalier County, the study shows that 69.3 percent of respondents support strengthening North Dakota's smoke-free state law to include all bars and lounges.

Tobacco prevention coordinator for Cavalier County Health District Steph Welsh said that educating the community on the harms of smoking and secondhand smoke prevents kids from ever starting to smoke and encourages users to quit. Education efforts are working, because the survey shows that 55.9 percent see secondhand smoke as being very harmful, while another 24.3 percent rate secondhand smoke as harmful.

"The study shows that the work we are doing in tobacco prevention is paying off – people know that secondhand smoke kills," said Welsh. "It shows that the majority of our community members want smoke-free ordinances to protect everyone from secondhand smoke.

Welsh said that the many research documents, including the Surgeon General's report, conclude that secondhand smoke exposure in the workplace causes an increased risk for heart disease and lung cancer among adult nonsmokers and smoke-free workplace policies are the only effective way to protect all workers, including bar workers, from the dangerous chemicals.

"Separating smokers from nonsmokers and installing air cleaning systems to do not work," said Welsh. "Implementing smoke-free policies is the only effective way to prevent exposure from the harmful toxins."

The survey was conducted by an independent, third-party research company, Winkelman Consulting of Fargo, ND. Details of the report are available at the Cavalier County Health District website. ]]> Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.breathend.com/news/detail.asp?newsID=205 "North Dakota has not raised the tobacco tax since 1993 and at 44 cents is one of the lowest tobacco taxes in the country," says Tobacco Prevention and Control Policy Director Jeanne Prom. "The average tobacco tax today is $1.46. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, raising cigarette prices is one of the most effective ways to prevent and reduce smoking, especially among kids."

North Dakota was praised in the 2012 State of Tobacco Control Report for spending close to the level recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for its state tobacco control program, and for exceeding CDC recommendations for investing in a statewide "quitline" service to help smokers kick the habit. But the state also received an "F" grade for its 44 cents-a-pack cigarette tax, among the lowest in the region. The annual report card from the American Lung Association gave North Dakota an "A" grade for tobacco prevention and control spending; a "C' grade for smoke-free air; and a "C" grade for cessation coverage.

A spokesperson for the American Lung Association in North Dakota noted that with a couple of small changes, North Dakota could count on excellent grades in the years to come. "Raising the state cigarette tax is long overdue, and would help reduce the rate of youth smoking," said Kimberlee Schneider. "We are out of step with our neighboring states, and the direction the rest of the nation is heading. Recent polls have shown that the state is ready to do what Bismarck has already one - adopt a comprehensive smoke-free law that protects everyone fairly and equally."

A link to the entire State of Tobacco Control Report is available online at www.stateoftobaccocontrol.org]]> Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.breathend.com/news/detail.asp?newsID=204
Ashtrays are gone from the tables. Instead, a free-standing ashtray stands outside the main door. And then there are Essy and Miles Parizek, the co-owners, who police the bar with an anti-cigarette vigilance.

"If anybody catches you (smoking), you're out," Essy warns every night as she begins karaoke. The bar is, in her words, "110 percent smoke free."

It wasn't always like that. Up until a year ago Sunday marked the first anniversary of it being smoke-free singers would take to the stage and sing popular hits or forgotten tunes amidst a haze of blue smoke. While the singers are still there, the smoke has cleared.

For the past two to three years, the Parizeks have contemplated on whether or not to turn their bar into a non-smoking bar. Every time they had the discussion, they always came to the same conclusion: it would be a very big step.

"You can lose business in a hurry or gain a change in business," Essy said last Tuesday afternoon.

- Minot Daily News, January 2, 2012
As the Parizeks saw firsthand, there was a change in business, but it was one for the better.

"I have seen an improvement," she said. It wasn't a drastic change, "but it didn't hurt the business."

"Best thing we did," Miles added.

In addition to the change benefiting the business, Essy said that she has seen a positive change in her health. A sufferer of allergies, she would need to use inhalers. Now, she doesn't use them as much.

She noted a certain disapproval with establishments who go out of their way to announce, as if proud, that they allow smoking in their premises.

"I am more proud to have put up a sign outside to say we are smoke-free then 'Yes, we are smoking,'" she said.

The StarLite Club is among the eight or so bars in Minot -- in all, there are about two dozen bars in the city -- to be smoke-free.

Legislation provides that the decision to go smoke-free is up to the bar owner. In August 2005, a statewide ban on smoking -- with a few exceptions involved "in public places and places of enjoyment," was passed in North Dakota, per the North Dakota Century Code Sect. 23-12-10. Among those exceptions were bars.

Renae Byre, a tobacco treatment specialist with the First District Health Unit, said that there are many that comment to her about how frustrated they are that their workplace is not smoke-free.

"A lot of people say 'Well, find a different job,'" Byre said. "A lot of times, you can make a lot more money -- and they enjoy that kind of work -- in a bar."

Some mention that such legislation is "an infringement of the employers right," Byre said.

"I think we need to shift our thinking, in terms of that. It's a matter of safety. It's a matter of a safety and health issue," she added. "It's not about taking away rights. People can still smoke, they just have to take it outside."

At the StarLite, Essy Parizek said that "80 percent of people are very used to" the ban on smoking indoors. There are some that forget and light up inside. A very few will argue their point.

She added that loyal customers have looked past the smoking ban and when the need arises, they go outside to smoke. Essy noted that a smoke shack is in the planning stages.

"I feel for both sides," she said. A former smoker, she hasn't smoked in 30 years and doesn't plan on beginning the habit again. A smoke shack would accommodate those who "persist on smoking."

Five minutes of exposure to secondhand smoke is the same as smoking a cigarette, a fact sheet from (TobaccoScam.com) states. This stiffens the aorta, the main artery carrying blood from the heart to the body, which makes the heart work harder to pump blood.

Two hours of exposure can create a greater risk of irregular heartbeat which, in turn, can itself be fatal or trigger a heart attack.

"We were a strong leader in the nation when we went smoke-free with our restaurants," Byre said. "We were one of the top cities in the nation to protect employees and children from the harmful effects of secondhand smoking."

But since then, she noted, "we're not doing a good job of protecting all of our employees. Minot has not continued in that arena of putting health first. Hopefully, we'll kind of transition into that area."

According to Byre, Fargo has been smoke-free for a couple of years, and Grand Forks has been for a little over a year. Devils Lake jumped on the bandwagon in July 2010, as did Bismarck, which went smoke-free in September of 2010.

"We're slowly moving to this western end," she said, noting that the western end of the state, such as Williston have other pressing issues -- housing and infrastructure, to name a few -- to contend with.

"Bismarck is probably the furthest west that we've gone," she said.

While the Starlite is in its early infancy of being non-smoking, The Blue Rider is, in a way, a young adult.

Since it opened in 1993, The Blue Rider, located in downtown Minot, has operated as a non-smoking bar. To his knowledge, owner Walter Piehl believes that his bar is the first non-smoking bar in the state.

"We opened at a time when two other establishments that served food were non-smoking, but they were restaurant bars," he explained.

Demand

Piehl said that he chose to open the bar as a non-smoking bar "mainly because we couldn't stand smoke." The bar, he added is "more of an interesting diversion and more of a public space" for those who want to go out and don't want to smell like smoke.

"It seemed like the kind of place where people could hang out and do that without having the smoke," he said. "And there was a demand for it. People were talking about how they wouldn't go out because they couldn't stand to be in it or the effects of it afterward."

Right away, there was a positive reaction to its non-smoking stance, he said.

Piehl said that for some, when they first entered the bar with cigarette in hand -- or sometimes in mouth -- "you'd tell them it's a non-smoking bar. Some were irritated and mad. They obviously would either leave or put their cigarette out."

Like the Starlite, The Blue Rider has a clientele who smoke, but "they smoke outside because they're used to smoking outside in other situations. It's not just a bias so much against them because it happens all over."

Piehl said that the first year in business was "a very good year. The first few years before everybody did non-smoking were good years."

The YMCA, at the time, was located across the street and a clientele from there began to develop.

"They would swim and stop at the Blue afterwards," Piehl said. "When they moved away, it might have been 10 percent of our business, but it was a percent we counted on. It was slow to make up the difference in business again. Other bars had begun to go non-smoking."

There were some that opened -- like The Blue Rider -- as a non-smoking bar. Others changed their policies and became non-smoking bars.

"It was pretty obvious you could do that and still have a good business," Piehl said.

Essy Parizek said that, at the Starlite, it took about one and a half years to "get this up to profiting" when she and her husband first purchased the bar six years ago. "It's just been climbing ever since."

And making it non-smoking has helped boost that.

"I would highly recommend just about any business doing the same thing. I don't see where it's going to hurt," she said. In fact, she added, if she ever had another night club or some such establishment, "I would not hesitate twice on (enforcing a) smoke-free (policy) again ... I would kick it off smoke-free."

"Another club?" Miles asked, before nodding in agreement. "Oh yeah."

Likewise, Piehl said that he would never turn The Blue Rider into a smoking bar.

"Never," he said. "We'd turn it into a domino parlor before we'd do that."

- Minot Daily News, January 2, 2012
]]> Wed, 04 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.breathend.com/news/detail.asp?newsID=203
The findings of the 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, which were released Nov. 30, show a smoking rate decline from 22.4 percent in 2009 to 19.4 percent this year. There is no question that the drop in youth smoking rates is a significant success for the state's tobacco use prevention efforts. During the same period, the decline in use of other tobacco products among youth was 15.3 percent to 13.6 percent.

The programs are administered by the North Dakota Center for Tobacco Prevention and Control Policy. The center is funded by Initiated Measure 3 that voters passed in 2008. The measure established the program and mandated funding. Since then, North Dakota has become a national leader in developing tobacco control and education programs.

The center works with schools, local public health agencies and the state Department of Health to develop and implement programs. Goals are to reduce tobacco use and its attendant health and economic consequences. The new survey of youth smoking confirms that the programs are working as intended.

The success of the center's voter-mandated work is especially gratifying because the Legislature has not been a leader in concern for the health of young people regarding smoking. Time and again, lawmakers have refused to pass a statewide smoking ban of the kind several cities have adopted by ballot questions. Apparently captive of the small-town bar industry and other narrowly focused special interests, the health of the state's people has taken a backseat during the Legislature's biennial sessions.

Indeed, it took a vote of the people of the state in 2008 to override lawmakers via Measure 3. The voters got it right.

The clear success of the center's anti-tobacco programs is a direct result of money spent wisely on education and prevention efforts. The message is getting through to young people that smoking and other forms of tobacco use are killers. School programs and television advertising aimed at young people are having the desired – and predicted – effects. Legislators and special interests that fought Measure 3 were on the wrong side of this public health priority.

From the Fargo Forum
]]> Wed, 14 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://www.breathend.com/news/detail.asp?newsID=202
The drop in youth smoking rates marks a success for North Dakota's comprehensive tobacco use prevention efforts, led by the North Dakota Center for Tobacco Prevention and Control Policy (Center).

"What we're doing is working," said Jeanne Prom, executive director of the North Dakota Center for Tobacco Prevention and Control Policy.

The Center takes a comprehensive approach that includes public health education campaigns and promoting local smoke-free and tobacco-free policies to protect the lives of North Dakotans by reducing tobacco use across the state.

According to the Center, 600 North Dakota kids become new daily smokers each year, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that if the state's current smoking rate continues, 1,100 kids now under 18 years old in North Dakota will die prematurely from smoking.

To reduce smoking rates among kids in North Dakota, the Center's local public health partners have been working with school boards to adopt and enforce comprehensive tobacco-free campus policies. To date, 101 North Dakota school districts have adopted policies. Many of the policies went into effect as part of the implementation of North Dakota's fully funded tobacco prevention program that began in 2009.

Prom said tobacco-free school policies are vital to saving North Dakota kids from the dangers of tobacco use, and tobacco prevention funding allows the much needed time for local public health units to educate school boards, staff and communities on the health benefits of implementing tobacco-free policies.

"When youth aren't exposed to smoking, they are less likely to start," Prom said. "Tobacco-free school campuses create environments where fewer young people experiment with any kind of tobacco use."

Along with the decline in high school smoking rates, a decrease was also reported in high school usage of other tobacco products, such as chewing tobacco, snuff and dip where rates dropped from 15.3 percent in 2009 to 13.6 percent in 2011. The decreases in youth tobacco use coincide with a recent CDC survey showing North Dakota adult smoking rates dropped from 18.6 percent in 2009 to 17.4 percent in 2010.

"We are pleased to see our approach is paying off," Prom said.

The complete Youth Risk Behavior Survey can be found here

]]> Mon, 12 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://www.breathend.com/news/detail.asp?newsID=200
As a former smoker, I have experienced both the terrible price of tobacco use and the incredible challenge of quitting. I was 15 when I had my first cigarette, and I thought I didn't have anything to worry about. When I was 18, I was diagnosed with Buerger's Disease, a vascular disease in which your arteries and veins become blocked by blood clots, causing infection and gangrene in your extremities. At 19, my left leg was amputated because of my disease. Eventually, my right leg was taken, too.

Tobacco prevention is key because once you start using, it's incredibly difficult to kick the habit. Even after both my legs were amputated, I relapsed and began smoking again, which further complicated my condition. It's taken me years to completely overcome my addiction.

Educating people about the dangers of tobacco use is the most important step in the fight for our health. Anti-tobacco campaigns spread the message that tobacco use is dangerous and costly, both of which are true.

Virtually every person diagnosed with Buerger's Disease uses tobacco in some form or another. By educating the public, we can hope to reduce not only Buerger's Disease but every tobacco-related disease affecting North Dakotans. People need to be aware of the dangers of tobacco, especially teens and young adults who think, like I did, that they have nothing to worry about from smoking.

Tobacco harms young and old alike, and the only way to stay healthy is to never start.

Carmichael is a member of BreatheND and the Fargo Cass SAFE Coalition.

From the Fargo Forum]]> Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://www.breathend.com/news/detail.asp?newsID=201
Linton has a great deal of opportunity serving as the county seat of Emmons County. It's where locals gather to socialize, do business and access many different services such as healthcare and within its population base of just over 1,090 people are many health-conscious business owners and citizens that would like their city to be smoke free.

A recent community survey conducted by Winkelman Consulting of Fargo, N.D., assessed smoke-free attitudes of residents in Linton and five other surrounding cities: Ashley, Jamestown, LaMoure, Steele and Wishek. The results show that local cities, including Linton, support smoke-free communities. Seventy-three percent of Linton residents support local policy to make all Linton workplaces smoke free. The results also show that if Linton bars became smoke free, nearly 69 percent of respondents would visit a bar just as often or more, while only six percent would frequent them less.

One supporter of Linton's smoke-free efforts is former bar owner, Richard Nicklos. Nicklos owned a bar in Linton for 27 years before he was diagnosed with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and his failing health forced him to sell his business. Today, Nicklos takes nebulizer treatments, inhalers and multiple prescription medications to manage his diseases.

"I am living proof that secondhand smoke is as hazardous as the real smoke," Nicklos said. "So you aren't in my shoes someday, we need to take cigarette smoke outside."

A group of local, health-conscious citizens organized as Smoke Free Linton is seeking support from the community by asking citizens to endorse the idea that all workplaces should be smoke free. According to coalition member and Emmons County Public Health Administrator Beverly Voller there is strong community support for smoke-free Linton.

"We have a lot of support from the community, including the Emmons County Public Health Board, Linton Hospital Board, Linton School Board, Linton Senior Citizens and many concerned citizens who recognize secondhand smoke is a serious health issue," Voller said. She also said that as a registered nurse, her passion for healthier, smoke-free work environments stems from working in public health for 28 years where she has personally seen the harmful effects of smoking and secondhand smoke.

With all this support, Linton health advocates are hopeful that the City Commissioners will choose to make their city healthier by endorsing a smoke free community in all workplaces, including bars.

Proponents of comprehensive smoke-free workplaces cite research of the known health effects caused by smoking and secondhand smoke, like a recent study by the Mayo Clinic that documents that heart attacks and sudden cardiac deaths were cut in half among residents in Olmsted County, Minn., after a smoke-free ordinance took effect. Another cited source is the 2010 Surgeon General's report, which states that there is no safe level of exposure to cigarette smoke.

If Linton chooses to become smoke free, it would be the eighth North Dakota city to go smoke free, joining the ranks of Bismarck, Devils Lake, Fargo, Grand Forks, West Fargo, Pembina and Napoleon.

Napoleon, located not far from Linton, went smoke free August 1, 2010 and Downtowner bar manager Deran Piatz is pleased with Napoleon's choice to go smoke free. Piatz said business at the Downtower has been very good, especially with all the construction workers that passed through this past summer.

"Going smoke free doesn't seem to bother the smokers and it sure is nice to come home and not smell of smoke," said Piatz. "It's a better place to work now and I can't imagine going back to the way it used to be."

Learn more about the Mayo Clinic study here and the Community Survey here.


]]> Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://www.breathend.com/news/detail.asp?newsID=197
Over 17 percent of North Dakota adults and more than 22 percent of our children are addicted to tobacco, and more than 700 North Dakota kids begin smoking each year. As the leading cause of preventable deaths and disease in this state, smoking kills 890 North Dakotans each year. And we all pay the price of smoking whether we use tobacco or not.

It costs North Dakota families more than $247 million each year in health care, resulting in a tax burden of $564 for each North Dakota household per year. Plainly put, it's a horrible addiction.

Indeed it's wise to have tobacco cessation programs readily available for those wanting to quit, and North Dakota does have such programs. But, the best cure for an addiction is prevention. The more we can get the word out about the harmful effects of smoking, the better educated people are in making the decision to not light up in the first place.

Thanks to the proven Centers for Disease Control best practices underway by the North Dakota Center for Tobacco Prevention and Control, the state is making great strides in protecting our citizens from tobacco. Efforts like public education fights the billions of dollars big tobacco spends to encourage smoking.

Tobacco companies spend nearly $25 to market tobacco products for every $1 states spend to fight tobacco usage. We can't match them dollar for dollar, but our cost effective, proven methods are making a difference by preventing kids from smoking, helping smokers quit and protecting everyone from secondhand smoke.

Jon Rice, North Dakota Center for Tobacco Prevention and Control Policy Executive Committee member, Fargo

From the Dickinson Press.]]> Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT