Breath Matters Monthly e-Newsletter

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Current Issue:

Breath Matters
The American Lung Association of California's Monthly e-Newsletter
June 29, 2006 Number 137
http://www.californialung.org

Content:

Lotsa Helping Hands
Lung Association Endorses Clean Alternative Energy Act
Does Your Elected Official Take Money From Big Tobacco?
Alcohol-Flavored Cigarettes Another Dangerous Marketing Ploy
Smoke-Free Housing Project Hits Santa Clara County
Association Supports Efforts to Rid Beaches of Tobacco Smoke
Dublin to Declare Secondhand Smoke a Public Nuisance
Asthma Summer Camps Teach Self-Management Techniques
Researcher Studies Role of Growth Factors in Lung Cancer
Summertime Giving
Tell a Friend

MONTHLY HEALTH TIP:

Lotsa Helping Hands: Get the care-giving help you need at the American Lung Association�s Lotsa Helping Hands website, where visitors can create their own mini care-giving site to help friends and family suffering from lung disease manage tasks and coordinate support. For more on how the site works, visit http://lung.lotsahelpinghands.com/ or contact Susan Rappaport at srappaport@lungusa.org.

LUNG ASSOCIATION ENDORSES CLEAN ALTERNATIVE ENERGY INITIATIVE

The American Lung Association of California Board of Directors voted to support the Clean Alternative Energy Act (CAEA) at its June 17 board meeting. The statewide initiative will appear on the November ballot. The American Lung Association of California will lend its name to the campaign to pass this important air quality initiative, inform the public about the need to increase alternative fuels for transportation, and will likely appear as a signer on the ballot argument in the voter handbook.

The CAEA will fund a 10-year, $4-billion effort to reduce petroleum usage in California and increase renewable energy and energy efficiency technology research, development and commercialization. The initiative is designed to capture excess oil company profits and use them to develop and fund alternative fuel and energy technologies.

For more information, contact Bonnie Holmes-Gen or Paul Knepprath at 916.442.4446 or bhgen@alac.org or pknepprath@alac.org.

DOES YOUR ELECTED OFFICIAL TAKE MONEY FROM BIG TOBACCO?

The latest campaign contribution and lobbying report from the American Lung Association of California�s Center for Tobacco Policy and Organizing indicates the tobacco industry continues to use its enormous financial resources in an attempt to influence the legislative process. You can find out if any of your elected officials accepted tobacco industry campaign contributions at http://www.californialung.org/thecenter/ Enter your zip code in the box under �Tobacco Money & Politics� and hit the �Show me the $� button. To see your representatives� voting records on 2005 tobacco legislation, visit http://www.californialung.org/thecenter/getlocal/index.html

For more information, contact Kimberly Weich Reusche at 916.442.4299 or kwreusche@alac.org.

ALCOHOL-FLAVORED CIGARETTES ANOTHER DANGEROUS MARKETING PLOY

A new American Lung Association report, Alcohol-Flavored Cigarettes � Continuing the Flavored Cigarette Trend, shows that the tobacco industry continues to target the nation�s youth and young adults with their deadly products using underhanded marketing tactics. On the eve of World No Tobacco Day May 31, the association called for stronger regulation of the tobacco industry for the sake of public health. Pending federal legislation would prohibit all flavorings in cigarettes except menthol.

R.J. Reynolds in particular has been aggressively targeting the youth and young adult market with several recent marketing campaigns that seek to link smoking with alcohol use, gambling and rebellious behavior.

The report details how R.J. Reynolds recently sold alcohol-flavored cigarettes as limited edition brands of an ongoing line of flavored cigarettes called Camel Exotic Blends. To view the full report, visit http://slati.lungusa.org/alerts.asp

SMOKE-FREE HOUSING PROJECT HITS SANTA CLARA COUNTY

The American Lung Association has launched Engaging Santa Clara!, a smoke-free housing project designed to increase the number of residential property owners and management companies in Santa Clara County that adopt and implement policies to reduce secondhand tobacco smoke in common indoor and outdoor areas and by designating units to be smoke-free.

By working collaboratively with Santa Clara County property owners and managers and engaging their participation and input, the project hopes to bring about a social norm change in how residential property owners/managers can more proactively address secondhand smoke issues in their properties.

For more information, contact Arleen Francisco at 510.893.5474 or afrancisco@alaebay.org.

ASSOCIATION SUPPORTS EFFORTS TO RID BEACHES OF TOBACCO SMOKE

San Diego beaches are the latest to go smoke-free, joining the list of California cities that have passed ordinances designed to protect beachgoers from secondhand smoke. The American Lung Association has actively supported these efforts, which in less than three years has resulted in 19 cities in four Southern California counties banning smoking on area beaches.

In Los Angeles County, there will soon only be three beaches that allow smoking. All other beaches in the county will be smoke-free by July, when bans recently passed in Torrance and Hermosa Beach will be in effect. Several local cities have banned smoking not only on beaches but on piers. In Orange County, all state beaches except Corona del Mar allow smokers, but only a handful of municipal beaches do.

�It's secondhand smoke, it's littering, it's protecting the children, it's the marine environment," American Lung Association staffer Debra Kelley was quoted as saying in the Los Angeles Times.

To view the complete article, visit http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-beach19jun19,0,5737254.story?coll=la-home-headlines

DUBLIN TO DECLARE SECONDHAND SMOKE A PUBLIC NUISANCE

Dublin City Council Members voted 3-2 in favor of creating an ordinance that would officially declare tobacco smoke a public nuisance, giving residents who are bothered by it their day in court. By declaring secondhand smoke a nuisance, nonsmoking residents who can�t resolve conflicts with their smoking neighbors would have the opportunity to bring the matter before a judge and need only prove the nuisance exists.

American Lung Association representatives have been working with Dublin Mayor Janet Lockhart, one of the three supporters on the City Council, for several years and testified at the council meeting in support of the ordinance. The association regularly receives calls from property managers and tenants who need help resolving the issue of secondhand smoke.

For more information, contact Serena Chen at 510.893.5474 or schen@alaebay.org.

ASTHMA SUMMER CAMPS TEACH SELF-MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES

American Lung Associations around the state offer a variety of both day and residential asthma summer camps to help children with asthma learn to better manager their disease in a fun summer camp environment. When children know how to control their symptoms with proper use of medications and by avoiding triggers, they experience fewer episodes resulting in trips to the emergency room.

Asthma summer camps are offered in communities throughout the state, including Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, Santa Rosa, Ventura, and Yosemite.

For more information about camps in your area, you can reach your nearest association at 1.800.LUNG.USA.

RESEARCHER STUDIES ROLE OF GROWTH FACTORS IN LUNG CANCER

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths for both men and women. Liu Ming, MD, Ph.D, is hoping to determine the role two growth factors play in the development of lung cancer to find better treatments and possibly prevent lung cancer in the future.

Her research project at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA was partially funded by the American Lung Association of California, which granted nearly $1 million to lung disease research in fiscal year 2005-2006.

For more information about funded projects, visit http://californialung.org/research/research.html

SUMMERTIME GIVING

Celebrate the joys of summer with a gift to the American Lung Association in honor of your summertime party guests. To donate, visit http://californialung.org/donate/donate.html

TELL A FRIEND

Forward this e-newsletter to friends, family and business contacts. Encourage them to subscribe for free at http://www.californialung.org. Signing up is easy. Just enter your e-mail address at the upper left corner of the Web site homepage below the logo.

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tel: (510) 638-LUNG, fax: (510) 638-8984, e-mail: info@californialung.org.