February 25, 1999

Contact: Bonnie Widerburg, (971) 673-1282

Technical Contacts: Jane Moore, Program Manager, (971) 673-1032

Barbara Pizacani, Research Analyst, (971) 673-0605

STUDY SHOWS OREGON’S TOBACCO PREVENTION PROGRAM IS WORKING

(PORTLAND) The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued the first national scientific review of Oregon’s Tobacco Prevention Program today, and the news is good.

“The CDC looked closely at what we were trying to accomplish and recognized that our comprehensive approach is working better than anyone could have predicted,” said Dr. David Fleming, state epidemiologist at the Oregon Health Services.

The study, which appears in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report released today, looks at the reasons behind the 11.3% reduction in per capita consumption of cigarettes in Oregon since 1996. According to the CDC research, the increase in cigarette taxes accounts for only a portion of the 11.3% reduction. The remaining reduction is a result of the efforts of the Tobacco Prevention Program.

Oregon’s sharp decline since 1996 reverses a four year period of increasing cigarette consumption in the state. In the rest of the nation, the trend has been almost flat, so Oregon’s decline represents a substantial departure from the national pattern, according to the study.

“Since the program was implemented in the fall of 1996, 35,000 fewer Oregonians are smoking. In 1998, 25 million fewer cigarette packs (or 500 million cigarettes) were sold in Oregon compared to 1996 despite a population increase of 2.7%. The result is a future savings of over $150 million and the lives of 600 Oregonians,” Fleming said.

“The program is a success,” Fleming stated. “In fact, we believe that this program is one of the most cost effective uses of public dollars to prevent disease and early death for Oregonians.”

The CDC study concluded that “the decline in cigarette consumption in Oregon, California and Massachusetts indicate that an adequately funded, comprehensive tobacco-control program can quickly and substantially reduce tobacco use.”

The Oregon Tobacco Prevention and Education Program is a comprehensive effort to reduce the use of tobacco and exposure to secondhand smoke. It includes programs in local communities, schools, businesses, media and special populations. The program is funded by a tobacco tax increase approved by voters in 1996. Ten percent of the new revenue is allocated to tobacco use prevention and education.