 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Cynthia Hallett, MPH, Executive Director, American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation, 2530 San Pablo Avenue, J, Berkeley, CA 94702, 510-841-3045, ch@no-smoke.org
Recent successes across the country have been encouraging, moving us closer to a critical mass, a nation of smoke free communities. Over 1325 local jurisdictions have a clean indoor air ordinance on the books, with over 400 completely smoke free. While this is positive for the tobacco control movement, it is bad news for the tobacco companies. Their own internal documents illustrate why the industry resents local ordinances: "Financial impact of smoking bans will be tremendous. Three to five fewer cigarettes per day per smoker will reduce annual manufacturer profits a billion dollars plus per year." The industry's response to the growing trend was a full court press in state houses to pass preemption. Premeption is a provision in state law that eliminates the power of local governments to regulate tobacco. These laws may preempt existing laws and/or prevent future legislation. In addition, variations on this definition (e.g. quasi-preemption and/or practical preemption) have been introduced in several states. Because of these complexities, this subtle ploy of the industry is often misunderstood. This session will discuss the genesis of preemption as a tobacco industry strategy, and public health efforts to oppose preemption threats or over-turn preemptive laws.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Advocacy, Tobacco Policy
Related Web page: no-smoke.org
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.