SEARCH SITE

VIRGINIA LAW PORTAL

SEARCHABLE DATABASES

ACROSS SESSIONS

Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.

2014 SESSION


HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 284
Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the United States Surgeon General's Smoking and Health report.

 

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 14, 2014
Agreed to by the Senate, February 20, 2014

 

WHEREAS, 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.