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What
Is
Needed
to
Reduce
Smoking
Among
Women
—
Fact
Sheet
- Increase
awareness
of
the
devastating
impact
of
smoking
on
women’s
health.
Smoking
is
the
leading
known
cause
of
preventable
death
and
disease
among
women
— In
1997,
smoking
accounted
for
about
165,000
deaths
among
U.S.
women.
In
1987,
lung
cancer
became
the
leading
cause
of
cancer
death
among
women,
and
by
2000,
about
27,000
more
women
in
the
United
States
died
of
lung
cancer
(about
68,000)
than
of
breast
cancer
(about
41,000).
-
Expose
and
counter
the
tobacco
industry’s
deliberate
targeting
of
women
and
decry
its
efforts
to
link
smoking,
which
is
so
harmful
to
women’s
health,
with
women’s
rights
and
progress
in
society
—
In
1999
tobacco
companies
spent
more
than
$8.24
billion,—
or
more
than
$22.6
million
a
day
—
to
advertise
and
promote
cigarettes.
To
sell
its
products,
the
tobacco
industry
exploits
themes
of
success
and
independence,
particularly
in
its
advertising
in
women’s
magazines.
- Encourage
a
more
vocal
constituency
on
issues
related
to
women
and
smoking
—
Taking
a
lesson
from
the
success
of
advocacy
to
reduce
breast
cancer,
we
must
make
concerted
efforts
to
call
public
attention
to
the
toll
of
lung
cancer
and
other
smoking-related
diseases
on
women’s
health.
Women
affected
by
tobacco-related
diseases
and
their
families
and
friends
can
partner
with
women’s
and
girls’
organizations,
women’s
magazines,
female
celebrities,
and
others
—
not
only
in
an
effort
to
raise
awareness
of
tobacco-related
disease
as
a
women’s
issue,
but
also
to
call
for
policies
and
programs
that
deglamorize
and
discourage
tobacco
use.
-
Recognize that nonsmoking is by far the norm among
women— Publicize that most women are nonsmokers. Nearly four-fifths
of U.S. women are nonsmokers, and in some subgroup populations, smoking is
relatively rare (e.g., only 11.2 % of women who have completed college are
current smokers, and only 5.4 % of black high school seniors girls are daily
smokers). It important to recognize that among adult women those who are
most empowered, as measured by educational attainment, are the least likely
to be smokers. Moreover, most women who smoke want to quit.
-
Conduct
further
studies
of
the
relationship
between
smoking
and
certain
outcomes
of
importance
to
women’s
health
—
Additional
research
is
needed
to
explore
these
issues:
- The
link
between
exposure
to
environmental
tobacco
smoke
and
the
risk
of
breast
cancer.
- Cigarette
brand
variations
in
toxicity
and
whether
any
of
these
possible
variations
may
be
related
to
changes
in
lung
cancer
histology
during
the
past
decade.
- Changes
in
tobacco
products
and
whether
increased
exposure
to
tobacco-specific
nitrosamines
may
be
related
to
the
increased
incidence
rates
of
adenocarcinoma
(malignant
glandular
tumor)
of
the
lung.
- Health
effects
of
smoking
among
women
in
the
developing
world.
-
Encourage
the
reporting
of
gender-specific
results
from
studies
of
influences
on
smoking
behavior,
smoking
prevention
and
cessation
interventions,
and
the
health
effects
of
tobacco
use,
including
use
of
new
tobacco
products
—
Research
is
needed
to
better
understand
and
to
reduce
current
disparities
in
smoking
prevalence
among
women
of
different
groups
as
defined
by
socioeconomic
status,
race,
ethnicity,
and
sexual
orientation.
Women
with
only
9
to
11
years
of
education
are
about
three
times
as
likely
to
be
smokers
as
are
women
with
a
college
education.
American
Indian
or
Alaska
Native
women
are
much
more
likely
to
smoke
than
are
Hispanic
women
and
Asian
or
Pacific
Islander
women.
Among
teenage
girls,
white
girls
are
much
more
likely
to
smoke
than
are
African
American
girls.
-
Determine
why,
during
most
of
the
1990s,
smoking
prevalence
declined
so
little
among
women
and
increased
so
markedly
among
teenage
girls
—
This
lack
of
progress
is
a
major
concern
and
threatens
to
prolong
the
epidemic
of
smoking-related
diseases
among
women.
More
research
is
needed
to
determine
the
influences
that
encourage
many
women
and
girls
to
smoke
even
in
the
face
that
all
that
is
known
of
the
dire
health
consequence
of
smoking.
If,
for
example,
smoking
in
movies
by
female
celebrities
promotes
smoking,
then
discouraging
such
practices
as
well
as
engaging
well-known
actresses
to
be
spokespersons
on
the
issue
of
women
and
smoking
should
be
a
high
priority.
- Develop
a
research
and
evaluation
agenda
related
to
women
and
smoking
—
Research
agendas
should
focus
on
these
issues:
-
Determining
whether
gender-tailored
interventions
increase
the
effectiveness
of
various
smoking
prevention
and
cessation
methods.
-
Documenting
whether
there
are
gender
differences
in
the
effectiveness
of
pharmacologic
treatments
for
tobacco
cessation.
-
Determining
which
tobacco
prevention
and
cessation
interventions
are
most
effective
for
specific
subgroups
of
girls
and
women.
-
Designing
interventions
to
reduce
disparities
in
smoking
prevalence
across
all
subgroups
of
girls
and
women.
-
Support
efforts,
at
both
individual
and
societal
levels,
to
reduce
smoking
and
exposure
to
environmental
tobacco
smoke
among
women.
Tobacco-use
treatments
are
among
the
most
cost-effective
of
preventive
health
interventions
at
the
individual
level,
and
they
should
be
part
of
all
women’s
health
care
programs.
Health
insurance
plans
should
cover
such
services.
Societal
strategies
to
reduce
tobacco
use
and
exposure
to
environmental
tobacco
smoke
include
counteradvertising,
increasing
tobacco
taxes,
enacting
laws
to
reduce
minors’
access
to
tobacco
products,
and
banning
smoking
in
work
sites
and
in
public
places.
-
Enact
comprehensive
statewide
tobacco
control
programs
proven
to
be
effective
in
reducing
and
preventing
tobacco
use
—
Results
from
states
such
as
Arizona,
California,
Florida,
Maine,
Massachusetts,
and
Oregon
show
that
science-based
tobacco
control
programs
have
successfully
reduced
smoking
rates
among
women
and
girls.
California
established
a
comprehensive
statewide
tobacco
control
program
more
than
10
years
ago,
and
is
now
starting
to
observe
the
benefits
of
its
sustained
efforts.
Between
1988
and
1997,
the
incidence
rate
of
lung
cancer
among
women
declined
by
4.8%
in
California
but
increased
by
13.2%
in
other
regions
of
the
United
States.
-
Increase
efforts
to
stop
the
emerging
epidemic
of
smoking
among
women
in
developing
countries
—
Strongly
encourage
and
support
multinational
policies
that
discourage
the
spread
of
smoking
and
tobacco-related
diseases
among
women
in
countries
where
smoking
prevalence
has
traditionally
been
low.
It
is
urgent
that
what
is
already
known
about
effective
means
of
tobacco
control
at
the
societal
level
be
disseminated
throughout
the
world.
-
Support
the
World
Health
Organization’s
Framework
Convention
for
Tobacco
Control
(FCTC)
—
The
FCTC
is
an
international
legal
instrument
designed
to
curb
the
global
spread
of
tobacco
use
through
specific
protocols
–
currently
being
negotiated
–
that
relate
to
tobacco
pricing,
smuggling,
advertising,
sponsorship,
and
other
activities.
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