That dense cloud of smoke hanging over Utah's women and girls has a silver lining — but it's only a lining, says the American Cancer Society's Beverly May.
Reacting to a report issued Tuesday by the U.S. surgeon general, she noted that Utah has the lowest percentage in the country of women and girls who smoke. But the numbers still mean that in this state, 460 children under 18 lose their mothers every year to smoke-related illnesses, she said.
Women now account for 39 percent of all smoking-related deaths each year in America, more than doubling the proportion since 1965, according to the report issued by Surgeon General David Satcher.
Satcher's office said a report focusing on women was needed. "No longer are the first signs of an epidemic of tobacco-related diseases among women being seen, as was the case when the 1980 report was written," says a statement released by the office.
"Today the nation is in the midst of a full-blown epidemic. Lung cancer, once rare among women, has surpassed breast cancer as the leading cause of female cancer death in the United States, now amounting to 25 percent of all cancer deaths among women."
Surveys show that women don't know that fact, the report adds. Also, lung cancer is only one of myriad serious diseases faced by women who smoke.
Lung cancer will kill nearly 68,000 American women this year, the report notes. That's 27,000 more than breast cancer. In 1999, 165,000 women died prematurely from smoking-related diseases like cancer and heart disease. Women who smoke also face unique health problems such as those relating to pregnancy.
May, who is Utah project director for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's national tobacco policy initiative, said smokers expose the rest of their families to second-hand smoke, which can cause death and disease among the nonsmokers.
"The kids are exposed to second-hand smoke, which means the medical bills are higher because the kids have colds, ear infections and asthma and different allergies," she said. All these are tied to environmental tobacco smoke.
Women who smoke are more likely to give birth to babies with medical problems. A doctor told May that whenever a woman who smokes is about to give birth, the hospital will make preparations for special care for the baby because of the potential for lung disorders and other illness.
For a woman who smokes, the average cost of a pregnancy goes up by $2,500, she said. The report indicates that people on the lower end of the economic scale are more likely to smoke, so much of this expense is passed along to the taxpayers.
"Taxpayers here in Utah are paying $3.9 million in federal taxes," for part of the Social Security program to support children under 18 who have lost their mothers to smoking, or whose mothers can't fully support them because they are incapacitated due to smoking, she said.
The cycle is a deadly one. If family members smoke around children, not only can that make the youngsters sick, but they are more likely to smoke themselves. "It's called modeling," May said.
According to Satcher, during the early decades of the 20th century, "smoking prevalence was more prominent among men and it took nearly 25 years before the gap narrowed and smoking became commonplace among women."
But glorifying smoking in movies, along with cigarettes and tobacco ads that specifically targeted women, made smoking more popular, leading Satcher and others to call Tuesday for beefed-up anti-smoking campaigns for girls and women.
The report cites 1999 data that "the precedence of smoking among women was highest in Nevada and Alaska and lowest in Utah and California."
May noted that according to Utah statistics provided by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, 11.8 percent of Utah's high school girls smoke. "That's 12,000 girls under the age of 19" who smoke, she said — even though those under 19 break the law every time they light up.
Among adult Utahns, 11.4 percent of women smoke, she added. "In real numbers, that's 82,000 women."
What can be done about the epidemic?
"First of all, it's always important to admit that we do have a problem," she said.
Because Utah has a strict Indoor Clean Air Act, legislators and taxpayers may think the state is in good shape. But Utah does have a serious problem, she said. "We have to open our eyes."
May said a report by the Federal Trade Commission indicates that cigarette companies spent $8.24 billion in advertising and promotions during 1999. That was up 22 percent from 1998.
"That's $2 billion more that they're spending now, and there's a reason for that: they need new smokers," May said.
Tobacco companies are targeting women and young girls, she charged. "And they're going to ethnic populations, and unfortunately it's working."
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