—STTAC Has Been Refunded!—

—Tobacco-Free Builds in Schuyler County—

June 2014 Volume 3, Issue 6

SERVING CHEMUNG, SCHUYLER AND STEUBEN COUNTIES

A Closer L o k

Elmira NY– On May 27, 2014 the Chemung County Health Department was awarded the 5 year Advancing Tobacco Free Communities Grant at $325,000 per year. This is the grant that funds the Southern Tier Tobacco Awareness Community Partnership (STTAC).

STTAC is a 3 county partnership that has a longstanding history of accomplishments in To-bacco Control. In accordance with this grant, STTAC will seek to address the following tobac-co control initiatives: Point of Sale (POS) Tobac-co Marketing, Tobacco Free Outdoor (TFO), Smoke-Free Multi-Unit Housing (SF-MUH) and Smoke-Free Media (SFM) in Chemung, Schuyler and Steuben counties.

While STTAC currently works on the POS and TFO initiatives, we are excited to be expanding

our initiatives to include SF-MUH and SFM, however we are most excited about adding a new much needed youth component to STTAC called Reality Check!

STTAC alongside the Reality Check youth will educate the community and local elected officials on the benefits of adopting local policies in re-gards to POS, TFO, MUH and SFM initiatives, in order to create local communities that support and reinforce tobacco-free norms and dismantle community policies and practices that support and promote tobacco use.

For more information about the grant or how to get involved please contact the STTAC Coordi-nator, Stacy Hills by phone at 607-937-9922 or by email at coordinator@sttac.org

Inside This Issue:

STTAC Has Been Refunded! 1

Tobacco-Free Builds in Schuyler

County 1

Community Updates 2

Tobacco Industry Tactics that Undermine Public Health 2

Chemung County Health Department has been awarded a 5 year

Advancing Tobacco Free Communities Grant!

Make your worksite

grounds

Schuyler County Habitat for Humanity Adopts a New Policy that Bans Tobacco

Use at their Build Sites.

ree f

Schuyler County NY– On Friday, May 2, 2014 Schuyler County Habitat for Humanity signed a policy stating that all of their future build sites will be 100% tobacco-free.

This could not have come at a better time since construction on the first Habitat for Humanity house in Schuyler County at 130 Havana Glen Road in Montour Falls broke ground on May 5, 2014. This policy was created to protect the vol-unteers that come together to make these builds possible.

STTAC is so happy they were able to not only assist with the policy creation, but also with the tobacco-free signage. STTAC provided the Schuyler County Habitat for Humanity with To-bacco-Free Zone signage that they are able to take with them to all future build sites.

STTAC has been helping businesses and munici-palities to develop tobacco-free worksite and tobacco-free entryway policies for years! If your business or municipality is interested in creating or even just getting more information on how to create a new tobacco-free policy for your worksite, please contact Stacy Hills, STTAC Coordinator at 937-9922 or by email at coordinator@sttac.org.

*STTAC can provide FREE Tobacco-free signage for your worksite with the development of a new policy while supplies last!

Tobacco

* Contact STTAC and get FREE

signage for your worksite when

you develop a new tobacco-free

grounds or entryway policy for

your business, while supplies last!

FREE Tobacco-Free

Signage*

Healthy employees

a healthy bottom line

&

The Southern Tier Tobacco Awareness Community Partnership (STTAC) seeks to build healthier communities through tobacco free living in Chemung, Schuyler & Steuben, NY.

STTAC has two main initiatives:

To educate the public on the benefit of reducing and eliminating tobacco Point-Of-Sale (POS) marketing, which influences our youth to use tobacco products.

To educate the public on the benefits of having Tobacco Free Outdoor (TFO) policies, which includes tobacco free worksites, parks, vehicles, entryways and other public outdoor areas.

Mailing Address

PO Box 858

Corning, NY 14830

We’re on the Web, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube! www.sttac.org www.facebook/sttac

www.twitter/sttacny www.youtube/sttacny

Phone: 607-937-9922

Fax: 607-937-9922

Email: info@sttac.org

Southern Tier Tobacco Awareness Community Partnership (STTAC)

Community Updates:

www.sttac.org

—Tobacco Industry Tactics that Undermine Public Health—

On June 30, 2014 the Tobacco Cessation Grant will end for Arnot Health. While Arnot Health did not apply for the 2014-2019 Health Systems for a Tobacco-Free NY Grant, we would like to wish all their staff the best of luck with all of their new ventures.

We would also like to recog-nize them for all of their hard work over the years in our community to help make it a standard practice for Doctors and Health Care professions to ask their patients and clients about their tobacco use and

refer them to the NYS quitline, where they can get 2 weeks of free nicotine replacement ther-apy products such as patches.

Although the grant will no longer be held by Arnot Health, it will now be held by the University of Rochester

Although the Grant for the Cessation Center is ending, it is important to

recognize all of the good they have done for the community.

—It’s Time to Say Goodbye to the Cessation Center at Arnot Health—

The 2014 Surgeon General Report (SGR) de-

scribes nine types of tobacco industry tactics that

undermine public health: intimidation, alliances,

front groups, campaign funding, lobbying, legisla-

tive action, buying expertise, philanthropy, and

advertising and public relations. The report cites

the following examples:

Engineering cigarettes to create and sustain

addiction, e.g., adding chemicals that cause

nicotine to reach the brain quicker and add-

ing flavors like menthol that reduces the

harshness of smoke, particularly for young

people. (SGR pp. 782, 801)

Casting doubt on the science about the dan-

gers of smoking and of secondhand smoke.

(SGR pp. 29, 32, 802)

Denying research that says advertising in-

creases smoking. (SGR p. 797)

Engaging in marketing that obscures the

dangers of smoking by implying that certain

types of cigarettes are less harmful, and mar-

keting new products that imply lower risks.

(SGR p.801)

Aggressively marketing to children with

campaigns like Joe Camel. (SGR p. 32)

Resisting efforts by the military to reduce

tobacco use by military personnel through

artificially low prices, and providing free

samples and coupons in violation of military

policy. (SGR p. 778)

Conducting cost-lowering promotions that

disproportionally effect price-sensitive

smokers, such as youth and young adults.

(SGR p. 778, 797)

Developing a commercial relationship with

the movie industry to place tobacco prod-

ucts in films between the 1920s through the

1970s. In 2012, the Surgeon General found

that there is a causal relationship between

the depictions of smoking in the movies and

initiation of smoking among young people.

(SGR pp. 797-798)

Challenging FDA efforts to protect consum-

ers, such as suing to block graphic warning

labels. (SGR p. 787)