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2014 SESSION
14104731DWHEREAS, in 1964, the historic United States Surgeon General’s Smoking and Health report marked the beginning of a national, and now global, effort to end the deadly scourge of tobacco use; and
WHEREAS, this report was based upon studies conducted in the 1950s that helped identify cigarette smoking as a cause of lung cancer and heart disease; and
WHEREAS, in the past 50 years, 31 Surgeon General’s reports have been released that have increased our understanding of the devastating health and financial burdens caused by tobacco use; and
WHEREAS, in January 2014, the 32nd Surgeon General’s report on smoking and health, The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress, was released; and
WHEREAS, the 2014 report adds liver cancer, colorectal cancer, Type 2 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and age-related macular degeneration to the official list of diseases caused by smoking; and
WHEREAS, the 2014 report also links two birth defects—cleft palate and cleft lip—to smoking, and evidence now shows that secondhand smoke is known to increase the risk of stroke in non-smokers; and
WHEREAS, smoking rates among adults and teens are less than half of what they were in 1964; however, 42 million American adults and approximately three million middle and high school students continue to smoke; and
WHEREAS, more than 1.2 million adults in the Commonwealth continue to smoke; an estimated 9,200 Virginians die each year due to their own smoking; 6,000 children in the Commonwealth become new daily smokers each year; and $2.08 billion in annual health care costs in the Commonwealth are directly related to smoking; and
WHEREAS, evidence-based tobacco control interventions that have been proven effective continue to be underused; and
WHEREAS, the 2014 report calls for providing cessation resources that are readily available and affordable to everyone who wants to quit smoking; and
WHEREAS, the Commonwealth has achieved success in helping smokers quit through the Virginia Department of Health’s Quit Now Virginia service that provides free information and coaching by telephone or online to residents who want to quit smoking or using tobacco; and
WHEREAS, the recently released Surgeon General’s report is a call to end smoking and tobacco use once and for all; and
WHEREAS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2014 edition of Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs recommends increased funding for tobacco control programs and that a portion of this money be used for cessation intervention and mass-reach health communication interventions; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly hereby commemorate the 50th anniversary of the United States Surgeon General’s Smoking and Health report; and, be it
RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the Virginia Department of Health as an expression of the General Assembly’s respect for the importance of this report.