First Breath Program Helps Pregnant Moms Quit Smoking

In Wisconsin, 15% of pregnant women admit to smoking during pregnancy, 2% more than the national average.

But the First Breath Program, offered by the Wisconsin Women’s Health Foundation (WWHF) and administered through prenatal care providers, is helping pregnant women successfully quit smoking. And it recently reached a milestone: Since 2001, 10,000 pregnant women have participated in First Breath with a conservatively estimated quit rate of 35%. This means that 3,500 pregnant women in Wisconsin have quit smoking as a result of the First Breath Program, resulting in healthier moms, healthier babies, and lower health costs to the state. Check out a news story printed last week in the Wisconsin Dells Events.

Wisconsin Medicaid is the prime payer for births in Wisconsin. In 2004, Wisconsin Medicaid paid for 35% (24,664) of the total 70,131 births in our state. And, pregnant Wisconsin Medicaid recipients smoke at a high rate (about 30%). As a result, WWHF’s First Breath Program is helping reduce a powerful driver of Medicaid costs in Wisconsin.

• First Breath saves $3.00 in healthcare costs for every $1.00 it spends.


• Since 2001, First Breath has saved almost $3 million in just neonatal health costs.


• If First Breath succeeds in preventing just two very low birth-weight premature babies each year, those costs savings to Wisconsin Medicaid (approximately $400,000) far exceed the total annual cost of the First Breath Program.
  

Locally, Beth TenPas, PHN for the Sheboygan County Health Department, was honored at a recent First Breath Conference for her work in enrolling over 250 participants into the First Breath Program. Way to go Beth!

For more information about First Breath, visit http://www.wwhf.org/, click Programs.

WI Receives "A" for Smoke-Free Air

The American Lung Association released the 9th annual State of Tobacco Control 2010 report. Wisconsin finally got an A in the "smoke-free air" category!!!! Thanks to the new smoke free air law, we will receive our first A in the history of the report.

However, WI received an F in both the "tobacco prevention and control funding," and the "cessation coverage" categories.

Prevention advocates know that WI can do better to protect our kids from the deadly addiction of tobacco use and help people quit nicotine, but does the WI State Legislature? Coalitions across the state are working to get the word out right now.

Hopefully we won't lose all the gains we've made in youth use rates because of another budget cut to tobacco prevention and control.

re:TH!NK meets with Andre Jacque

On Monday, the 17th, members from our coalition in Manitowoc met with Assembly 2 Representative Andre Jacque at Subway in Mishicot. The meeting lasted over an hour, giving us an opportunity to discuss and educate Mr. Jacque about Tobacco Prevention. Topics included SmokeFree Air Law, Addiction, WI Wins, Other Tobacco Products (OTP's), Taxation, Funding, just to name a few. Members included a business owner, ex-smoker, high basketball coach, grant writer, a student along with Emily and Jason. Mr. Jacque was able to see and smell new OTP's and was shocked how many products are out there. He was also surprised to know that tobacco products are taxed at different rates (cigars vs. cigarettes). We also learned from Mr. Jacque, such as, his wife suffers from asthma and his sister was an active volunteer with WI Wins.

More to come about our visit with Andre Jacque in the next e-Update.

Kentucky to be the Next Smoke-Free State?

Yes you read that correctly! A bill was recently introduced into the Kentucky State Legislature proposing passing a 100% smoke-free workplace law similar to the one Wisconsin passed and enacted. Kentucky has one of the highest smoking rates in the US; it will be no easy task to get this bill passed, but with nearly 60% of Kentucky residents showing support for the law, the debate will undoubtedly be a good one!

Way to go Kentucky! The air up here in WI is great! We hope you can enjoy smoke-free air soon!

http://www.kentucky.com/2011/01/12/1595852/push-for-smoke-free-ky-at-local.html

http://tristatehomepage.com/fulltext?nxd_id=233426 (with news station video)

New e-cigarette regulations

As a result of a federal appeals court decision on Dec. 7th (2010), e-cigarettes may continue to be legally sold in the US under federal law. In 2009, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) moved to establish authority over e-cigarettes as drugs or durg delivery devices by blocking the import of new e-cigarette shipments into the US. In Sottera v. FDA, the court ruled the FDA does not have the authority to continue to block the shipments (D.C. Cir 2010)
The ruling does not necessarily apply to all e-cigarettes on the market. If an e-cigarette company markets its products as a smoking cessation aid, the FDA may still have the authority to regulate it as a drug or drug delivery device.
The FDA could still appeal this decision, however no appeal has been made as of yet.
The full article can be read by clicking below.

http://www.phlpnet.org/tobacco-control/question/what-latest-lawsuit-chall