Menthol and LGBTIQ Community

Menthol cigarette smoking among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender adults is twice the rate of heterosexual adults, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Other tobacco-related disparities are even more pronounced among certain groups within the LGBT community.
Abstract available at  http://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797(14)00413-9/abstract

ActionToQuit Update

VIDEO 5.6 Million Children http://youtu.be/6dJ_vKN4h58 NEWS Online Comments Accompanying Anti-Amoking PSAs Have Impact on Overall Effectiveness of PSA January 24, 2014 Commentary accompanying anti-smoking public service announcements (PSAs) in online forums like YouTube has an impact on the PSA’s overall effectiveness. Read more.http://actiontoquit.org/news/online-comments-accompanying-anti-amoking-psas-have-impact-on-overall-effec/

 Much More Must Be Done to Lower Smoking Rates, Experts Say January 24, 2014 State inaction and tobacco industry tactics are slowing tobacco control efforts in the United States, a new report from the American Lung Association finds. Read more.http://actiontoquit.org/news/much-more-must-be-done-to-lower-smoking-rates-experts-say/

 U.S. Tobacco Companies’ Appeal to Delay Court-Ordered Advertising Blitz January 23, 2014 U.S. consumers will likely have to wait until 2015 or later to see a court-ordered advertising blitz detailing tobacco companies’ deception, a lag of nine years after the original ruling, a court heard on Wednesday. Read more.http://actiontoquit.org/news/u.s.-tobacco-companies-appeal-to-delay-court-ordered-advertising-blitz/

 The Battle Against Tobacco Rages On January 23, 2014 In 1964, the first Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health made it clear—smoking causes cancer. This news hit the country like a bombshell. Read more.http://actiontoquit.org/news/the-battle-against-tobacco-rages-on/

 REPORT: LGBT Community Spends 65 Times More on Tobacco Than Civil Rights January 22, 2014 A new report from the U.S. Surgeon General reveals that LGBT people spend an estimated $7.9 billion on tobacco products annually — which is 65 times more money than pro-equality funders spend on all LGBT issues combined. Read more.http://actiontoquit.org/news/report-lgbt-community-spends-65-times-more-on-tobacco-than-civil-rights/

 Rate Films With Smoking ‘R’—Cut Teen Smoking January 22, 2014 The connection between smoking in films and its influence on adolescent behavior is well established by research and its impact was listed today in consumer materials accompanying the Surgeon General’s Report: The Health Consequences of Smoking: 50 Years of Progress. Read more.http://actiontoquit.org/news/rate-films-with-smoking-r-cut-teen-smoking/

 Are Some Cigarettes More Addictive? January 21, 2014 As public health officials mark the 50th anniversary of the first US Surgeon General’s report warning about the health hazards of smoking, some have pointed out that although we’ve come a long way in reversing our nation’s addiction to nicotine, we still have a long way to go. Read more.http://actiontoquit.org/news/are-some-cigarettes-more-addictive/

 Study Found Kids Subjected to Secondhand Smoke are Twice as Likely to be Readmitted January 21, 2014 Children exposed to secondhand smoke at home or in the car are more likely to return to the hospital within 12 months of hospitalization for asthma, a new study finds. Read more.http://actiontoquit.org/news/study-found-kids-subjected-to-secondhand-smoke-are-twice-as-likely-to-be-re/

Post from Dr. Scout and Network for LGBT Equity

Network Changes: Saying Goodbye to Gustavo & Taking a Staff Break

As I’ve mentioned before, we’ve now hit the funding gap between the current and the next health disparity network awards. As of tomorrow, the Network will no longer be staffed until we hear (hopefully!) that we’ve been chosen as one of the next round of disparity networks. We expect this news to come in one to two months. Until then, Scout, the stalwart Steering Committee, and Daniella will be checking in every so often to keep the dust from gathering. This Network started with the efforts of amazing volunteers, so this is just a bit of going back to our roots. Good news is we think we’ve submitted a very strong proposal for the next round of funding so are optimistic we’ll be restaffed in a month or two.

Sadder news for us is our project manager, the amazing Gustavo Torrez, has decided he’s heading off for firmer ground. I don’t think there’s a person who’s interacted with the Network who could fail to realize just what a gem Gustavo is. He’s been in tobacco control since he was 12 years old! He’s long been a fearless youth advocate, is a force of nature when he presents, and can make hugely complicated events like our summit come off so smoothly we almost forget how hard we worked before he came on board. We shall miss Gustavo dearly, but we have faith he will stay one of the leaders to watch in tobacco control.

Changes aren’t always easy, but hold tight, the Network is much more than a few staff, plus we’re planning some great new things come Fall.

NIH Takes Important Steps for LGBT Health

Article by Dr. Scout, Director, Network for LGBT Health Equity
At The Fenway Institute, reposted at http://www.keystothecloset.blogspot.com, http://www.tobaccodeathray.blogspot.com,

A year ago I wrote a HuffPost blog post decrying the apparent stall in LGBT research integration at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Now I'm happy to say NIH is moving forward with good speed on this topic.

Why is NIH integration of LGBT health research important? Because health research is the only way we'll find answers to the persistent health disparities we see across the LGBT population. Why do we smoke cigarettes at rates that are68-percent higher than the general population? Can we do anything to protect against the spike in mental health problems after negative legislation is passed in our states? How can transgender people be assured of welcoming health care? What can be done about the high level of social isolation that LGBT elders report? And what can be done about the horrific LGBT youth suicide rates? If data tells the story of our lives, then research is the first step in writing happier endings.

In 2011, the Institute of Medicine released a historic report, "The Health of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People." In it they reviewed the scientific evidence, identified research gaps, and outlined steps to assist NIH in enhancing its efforts in this area. One of the positive steps NIH has since taken in the last year is to finally release a response to this report... Read the rest here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scout-phd/nih-takes-important-steps-for-lgbt-health_b_3468097.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices

Talk With Your Dr. Webinar Offered by The Network and GLMA

A new feature of the CDC's Tips From Former Smokers campaign was unveiled this week— “Talk With Your Doctor” (TWYD). The goal of this phase of the campaign is to engage health care providers and encourage them to use Tips as an opportunity to start a dialogue with their patients who smoke about quitting. It is also meant to serve as a reminder for smokers to talk with their healthcare providers about effective methods to help them quit.

As you may remember from our press release about the Tips campaign, "One of the ‘Tips from Former Smokers’ ads features a lesbian who suffers from asthma triggered by working in a smoke filled bar. Recently released data from the CDC shows that LGBT people smoke cigarettes at rates that are nearly 70% higher than the general population." This new phase of the campaign is yet another amazing way to reach out to our communities about this huge disparity!

On Thursday, June 13th, The Network will be teaming up with the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association (GLMA) and CenterLink to bring you a webinar discussing the “Talk With Your Doctor” campaign, and the impact that it will have on the health of LGBT communities.

Join us at 2pm EST by registering HERE!

Reposted at http://www.tobaccodeathray.blogspot.com, posted by The Network.

Resources shared by Gustavo Torrez  of Fenway Health posted at http://www.tobaccodeathray.blogspot.com,

I wanted to share one resource of a report compiled by Dathan Johnson at the Arkansas Department of Public Health, Tobacco Prevention & Cessation Program:
http://www.lgbttobacco.org/files/ArkansasLGBTSurvey.pdf

In addition, we created a sharing our lessons document around treatment for LGBT + communities:
http://www.lgbttobacco.org/files/HIV%20SOL%20Final.pdf

I am sure we will get more resources from the field but here are a couple to start off with along with a link back to our resource library with similar resources:
http://www.google.com/cse?cx=007089905494273129946%3Ah28wxiuzz7w&cof=FORID%3A0&q=SOL+hiv+tobacco+treatment&sa.x=0&sa.y=0#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=HIV

CDC focusing ads towards LGBT Community

The latest data from CDC shows that LGBT people smoke at rates 68% higher than the general population. With such high tobacco use rates within our community, you would think that there are efforts taking place across the country to help members of our community break the nicotine habit. Commonly cessation efforts do not reach out, or even speak to our communities which considering the tobacco use rates in our community is quite troubling. Every day we go to work we are striving to make a difference, helping our friends, family, and even strangers through our programming focused on reducing tobacco use within our community, and helping to counter the tobacco industrys practices as they are searching to recruit thousands of daily smokers to make up for the ones they (and we) have lost. I have never smoked but I have plenty of friends and family who have broke the nicotine habit and many more who are in the process or thinking about quitting.

I say all of this to celebrate CDC for taking steps to be more inclusive of their outreach methods to help all people break the nicotine habit. There is a new blog up today from Dr. Scout on HuffPost Gay Voices which we are thrilled to share: CDC Reaches Out to LGBT People in Smoking Cessation Ads. Click the link and make sure you share it on twitter, facebook, email etc. It's about getting the word out there, and hopefully we all can help our friends, family, and loved ones take that next step in their quit journey.

Posted by Fenway Health reposted at http://www.tobaccodeathray.blogspot.com

Mpowered Best and Promising Practices for LGBT Tobacco Control

The Network had the pleasure of presenting our MPOWERED: Best and Promising Practices for LGBT Tobacco Control document through a CDC wide Office on Smoking and Health (OSH) hosted Seminar in Atlanta recently.

As many of you know the Network released its MPOWERED Document at the National LGBT Health Equity Summit in coordination of the National Conference on tobacco or health this past August. As the first document of its kind to culminate LGBT best and promising practices in this way we have received and outpour of requests for the document and to-date have disseminated almost 900 copies, not to mention the online downloads. The document brought a value to the field at such a critical moment in tobacco control. While slow, there is still progress in LGBT tobacco control efforts nationally. With tailored programs addressing LGBT communities, and programs searching to include the population this vital resource helps folks to effectively engage the community.  Because of its popularity along with support of our friends within CDC we had the privilege to showcase the document with CDC Staff.

Through the presentation we aimed to increase more efforts CDC wide on LGBT inclusion within all aspects of CDC. With a wide range of folks from CDC in attendance we had the ability to truly elaborate on the MPOWERED model and our process to create the document. Walking away I feel really great that the information presented will be utilized and will help to increase more awareness of LGBT communities and strategies to include the community in their work.

Written by Gustavo Torrez, The Network for LGBT Health Equity, MPOWERED

Reposted at http://www.tobaccodeathray.blogspot.com,

HRC Legacy Webinar on LGBT Tobacco Use

Reposted at http://www.tobaccodeathray.blogspot.com,

December 11, 2012 at 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time Legacy is joining forces with the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) to host a special Warner Series Lecture on December 11th, exploring the complex issues surrounding tobacco in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) community. I

 

n 1995, R.J. Reynolds created a marketing campaign targeting gays titled Project SCUM. Since then, what role has Big Tobacco played in the high rates of tobacco use in LGBT communities? Why do LGBT Americans smoke in disproportionate numbers to the general population?  What initiatives have succeeded in reducing LGBT tobacco use? The discussion will address these questions and more as Legacy releases a new report, Tobacco Control in LGBT Communities.

The lecture will take place live at the HRC headquarters in Washington, DC, and can also be viewed via webcast. To attend in person, register. To participate via Webcast, http://contacts.americanlegacy.org/reaction/RSGenPage.asp?RSID=MlcCHnYmAIlP5ld14FikQynaRsKtdIrr8a0Hn2iHukw&utm_source=Legacy+eNews+-+November+2012&utm_campaign=November+2012+eNews&utm_medium=email