2015 ATCA Tobacco Summit Call for Proposals

 Dear Colleagues:

Please see the Call for Proposals below from our colleagues in Alaska:

The Alaska Tobacco Control Alliance is excited to announce the 2015 ATCA Tobacco Summit! The event will be held in April 2015 in Anchorage. The Summit Planning Committee is soliciting session proposals for the Summit, a chance to share your current project or experience on any topic in tobacco control: community or coalition advocacy, youth advocacy and engagement, policy best practices, emerging trends in the tobacco industry, cessation and health care interventions. Proposals from across the state are encouraged! The Summit is a chance for advocates statewide to share information, build relationships and strengthen the tobacco prevention and control network in Alaska.

Please contact one of the Summit Planning Members if you have any questions or need additional information:

• Karen Doster: kldoster@anthc.org or 907.729.2440

• Marge Stoneking: mstoneking@aklung.org or 907.644.6404

Please complete a copy of the attached form for each proposed presentation or session. Email your completed form to kldoster@anthc.org by October 30, 2014.

We hope you can join us and look forward to hearing about all the great work happening in Alaska! Please share this announcement widely among your networks and encourage your colleagues to apply.

Alaska Tobacco Control Alliance

Contracted Support Team
Agnew::Beck Consulting
441 West Fifth Ave., Suite 202

Anchorage, Alaska  99501
907-222-5424 office
907-222-5426 fax
www.alaskatca.org

Smoke-Free and Tobacco-Free Community College Grant Initiative

Dear Colleagues: Legacy, a national public health organization dedicated to reducing tobacco use, is now currently accepting applications for the Smoke-Free and Tobacco-Free Community College Grant Initiative.  Grants of up to $5,000 will be available to 100 public community colleges across the country to support their efforts to advocate for, adopt, and implement a 100% smoke-free or 100% tobacco-free policy.   The deadline for applications is November 6, 2014 at 6:00pm EST. Initial grants are for one year.  Upon invitation, awardees may apply for up to two additional years of funding at $5,000 per year.   Awardees will receive technical assistance throughout the grant award period. For more information including the grant guidelines, frequently asked questions, and link to the online application, please visit our website at www.legacyforhealth.org/CCIgrant.  There are resources and tips for applying on our blog. In addition, please feel free to share or forward this information to anyone who may be interested.   Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you and supporting your campaign!

2013 BRFSS data

Dear Colleagues,
On behalf of the CDC’s Division of Population Health, I am pleased to inform you of the recent release of the 2013 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data.

The BRFSS continues to be the largest ongoing telephone-based surveillance system in the world, with more than 491,000 interviews conducted in 2013 across all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Guam. The 2013 data on health risk behaviors, clinical preventive health practices, and health care access (primarily related to chronic disease and injury) come from a representative sample of non-institutionalized adults aged 18 years and older in each state.

The 2013 BRFSS data continue to reflect the changes initially made in 2011 in weighting methodology (raking) and the addition of cell phone-only respondents. The data allow for state-to-state and state-to-nationwide comparisons, and the state-specific data provide a sound basis for developing and evaluating public health programs, including programs targeted to reduce disparities in addressing health risks.

We encourage our partners from public health agencies, private enterprises, non-profit organizations, academia and government posts at the national, state, and local levels to use the data to inform data-based public health activities. We hope the new BRFSS data strengthen the capacity of all public health stakeholders and partners, to identify and address health risks, monitor changes in health-risk behaviors and diseases, assess public health programs, and design and target implementation of prevention strategies at local and state levels.

To access the 2013 prevalence estimates, visit the BRFSS website at the following link: 
http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/brfss/

Data files are available at: http://www.cdc.gov/brfss/annual_data/annual_2013.html.
The 2013 BRFSS data set is an important public health tool. We look forward to learning how you’ve used the data to help you prevent disease and promote health.

Warm regards,
Wayne H. Giles, MD, MS
Director
Division of Population Health
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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

O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law Colloquium: Global Tobacco Control

Global Tobacco Control

Wednesday, October 8, 2014
1:20 – 3:20 p.m.
 
Georgetown University Law Center
Faculty Dining Room, Hotung Room 2001
550 First Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001

Eric N. Lindblom
O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law
Eric N. Lindblom, JD, is a Senior Scholar at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, serving through a special detail from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products. Mr. Lindblom is working on a range of projects relating to the authorities and activities of the FDA Center for Tobacco Products and the regulatory process, including collaborative efforts with experts and researchers from Georgetown Law School and the University, other academic institutions, and the tobacco control and public health communities, both domestic and worldwide. 

Before coming to the O’Neill Institute in September 2014, Mr. Lindblom was a Senior Advisor to the Director of the Center for Tobacco Products and the Director of the Center’s Office of Policy, where he began serving in January 2011. Mr. Lindblom worked on the full range of FDA tobacco control activities, with a special focus on legal, policy and economic analyses of existing and proposed CTP initiatives. Under his leadership, the CTP Office of Policy also did extensive liaison work with both the tobacco industry and with U.S. and international tobacco control and public health researchers, other experts, government agencies and non- governmental organizations. Click here to read the full bio. 

Matthew L. Myers
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
Matthew L. Myers is President of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, a leader in the fight to reduce tobacco use and its devastating consequences in the United States and around the world. In 1996, Mr. Myers helped to found the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and has been with the Campaign since its inception. Initially, he served as its Executive Vice President and Legal Counsel and oversaw the Campaign’s legal and advocacy efforts. On January 1, 2000, Mr. Myers became the Campaign’s President. 

In his position at the Campaign Mr. Myers helped to lead the Campaign’s effort to defend FDA’s assertion of jurisdiction over cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products in 1996. Mr Myers then served as a close advisor to the State Attorneys General in the 1990s when they sued the tobacco industry. He participated in the 1996 negotiations that led to the first ever settlement with a tobacco company, Liggett and Myers, an agreement that broke the tobacco industry’s unity and resulted in the release of a massive amount of previously secret tobacco industry documents. In 1997, at the request of the State Attorneys General and the White House, Mr. Myers participated in the negotiations that led to the unprecedented agreement between the tobacco industry and the states in June 1997. He then served as one of the leading spokespersons for the legislative debate related to that settlement that followed in Congress. Click here to read the full bio. 

The O'Neill Institute Colloquium is open to all students, faculty, staff, and interested members of the public. 

The hashtag for this event is #oneillcolloquium.

For more information on O’Neill Institute events, please visit http://www.law.georgetown.edu/oneillinstitute/