Gov. Terry Branstad recently released a campaign challenging Iowa to become the healthiest state in the country during the next five years. As physicians, we commend this effort.
That said, 50 percent of the campaign is focused on the adoption of healthy behaviors, including eliminating smoking. According to the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, 4,400 adults die annually in Iowa from smoking. More than $1.01 billion is spent caring for patients throughout Iowa due to tobacco use. We see the long-term effects of tobacco use in our practices every day.
Unfortunately, tobacco is showing up in other forms throughout the country, even here in Linn County. Recently, dissolvable tobacco has been test marketed in Linn County.
As health care providers, we urge the Linn County Board of Supervisors to support upcoming ordinances banning the sale of dissolvable tobacco products and prohibiting buy-one-get-one-free promotions of tobacco products. These products provide another opportunity for Iowans to become addicted to nicotine, which impacts the overall health of our state and incurs significant costs for our community. Also, according to the Harvard School of Public Health (April 20, 2010), dissolvable nicotine products could lead to accidental poisoning.
If we are to become the healthiest state in the country, we need to prevent products like these from entering our market.
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