Tobacco’s Toll In Texas-It Really Stinks!

20Apr10

Tobacco use is a tremendous burden to all Texans. Tobacco use is the single greatest preventable cause of premature death and disease in Texas. Smoking kills more people than alcohol, AIDS, car crashes, illegal drugs, murders, and suicides combined – and thousands more die from other tobacco-related causes — such as fires caused by smoking (more than 1,000 deaths/year nationwide) and smokeless tobacco use.

In Texas:

18.6 % of adults smoke (3,273,800)

21.1.% of high school students smoke (297,800)

24,500 adults die each year from smoking

3,360 adults die each year from exposure to second hand smoke

995,000 kids are exposed to second hand smoke at home

5.83 billion is spent annually on health care costs directly associated with smoking

Smoking-caused productivity losses amount to $6.79 billion

The tobacco industry spends approximately $854.2 million marketing in Texas annually.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that Texas spend $266.3 million a year to have an effective, comprehensive tobacco prevention program. Texas currently receives $13.3 million a year for tobacco prevention and cessation, which includes both state and federal funds. This is 5.0% of the CDC’s recommendation and ranks Texas 46th among the states in the funding of tobacco prevention programs.

Texas’s spending on tobacco prevention amounts to 0.7% of the estimated $1.86 billion in tobacco-generated revenue the state collects each year from settlement payments and tobacco taxes.

Texas is spending minimal amounts on tobacco prevention despite the fact that the state is receiving more tobacco-generated revenue than ever before as a result of a $1.00 cigarette tax increase in 2007, bringing Texas’s tax to $1.41 a pack.

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