American Lung Association grades Sebastopol
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American Lung Association grades Sebastopol
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Smoke-free stroll – Sebastopol’s ‘No Smoking’ signs protect families with smoke-free-outdoor air.
Photo Janet Perry
The American Lung Association just released its annual “State of Tobacco Control” report, with grades assigned to states on their efforts to increase the health of their citizens by controlling the use and sale of tobacco.
California leads the way with its efforts at tobacco control. Sonoma County received an A and Sebastopol’s overall grade was a B, with A grades for smoke-free outdoor air and smoke-free housing.
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Lindsey Freitas is the Senior Director of Tobacco Control with the American Lung Association in California. Freitas explained that: “the F in curtailing sales of tobacco means that Sebastopol does not have a local tobacco retail license and it’s one area where the community could choose to move forward and adopt one. It would require their local retailers to obtain this local license and really empower their local law enforcement and code enforcement to enforce the youth purchase laws.”
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Carnacchi added, “Sebastopol has already taken many steps to make our city a smoke-free environment and if our residents demand that more should be done, then city council will be compelled to take action toward that end.”
See full article here
My commentary about the article: Tobacco is the leading cause of death and the West Sonoma County Union High School District has the highest rate of smoking in the county among underage females and the second highest overall rate. Tobacco Retail License (TRL) ordinances have been passed in more than 140 jurisdictions in California including recently in Unincorporated Sonoma County, Healdsburg and the City of Sonoma and have been shown to reduce youth access to tobacco on average by 26% percent.
Nearly nine out of ten life-long smokers start by age 18, establishing an addiction to nicotine before they are old enough to understand the harms. This means that Sebastopol teens may be at an increased risk for being life-long smokers and a laundry list of negative health consequences. As Council Member Carnacchi suggests, if you are concerned about tobacco and the health of our youth, this may be something to speak with the City about.
