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Breath Matters
The American Lung Association of California’s Monthly e-Newsletter
Improving Life, One Breath at a Time
To automatically connect with your nearest American Lung Association, or to speak with a nurse or respiratory therapist at our free HelpLine, call 800.LUNG.USA (800.586.4872).
July 29 , 2005 Number 126
Content:
MONTHLY HEALTH TIP
Take the Asthma Control Test and Know Your Asthma Score: http://www.asthmacontrol.com/
VOLUNTEER SPOKESPEOPLE FEATURED IN GOOD HOUSEKEEPING AND E! TV
Volunteer spokesperson Timothy Morris, MD, was quoted in the latest issue of Good Housekeeping in a one-page article about women and lung cancer (pg. 46). Dr. Morris provided some commentary and was included in the article. His reference: Don't think that the promise of early detection through screening means you can continue to smoke, he cautioned. Ask your doctor about the best ways to kick the habit. There are new drugs and programs that make quitting a lot easier.
In addition, a July 5 E! TV News segment about celebrity fathers who smoke near their pregnant wives featured American Lung Association of California Communications Committee volunteer Matt Keener, who is from the entertainment industry and a father. For more information, contact Andy Weisser at 818.703.6444 or aweisser [at] earthlink [dot] net.
STATEWIDE YOUTH TOBACCO ACCESS PROGRAM FUNDED
The American Lung Association of Central California received funding from Proposition 99 tobacco tax dollars to expand its STAKE (Stop Tobacco Access To Kids Enforcement) Act project statewide. Since 1999, the project has been recruiting youth to conduct compliance checks on tobacco retailers, which is required under the STAKE Act.
The association recruits young people ages 15 and 16 while the actual compliance checks are conducted by federal Food and Drug Branch investigators. California must keep its sales-to-minors rate below 20 percent to qualify for substance abuse dollars it receives from the federal government.
For more information, contact Jim Blagg at 877.STAKE.ID or stakeact [at] pacbell [dot] net.
NEW REPORT SHOWS TOBACCO INDUSTRY LOBBYING EXPENDITURES
The American Lung Association of California?s Center for Tobacco Policy and Organizing has released its latest Policy Report: Tobacco Industry Lobbying Expenditures in CA, which shows that tobacco lobbying organizations spent $326,849 in the first quarter of 2005 to influence major tobacco policy legislation. For the first time, the report lists the bills that the tobacco lobby has worked to influence. In addition to major tobacco manufacturers, the report includes lobbying expenditures by the California Distributors Association, which represents tobacco wholesalers and distributors in California. While not a "tobacco company," the distributors association lobbies on many tobacco-related measures.
To view the report online, visit http://www.californialung.org/thecenter and click on Tobacco Money and Politics. To get detailed information about the tobacco legislation mentioned in the report, visit http://info.sen.ca.gov/cgi-bin/pagequery?type=sen_bilinfo&site=sen&title...
For more information, contact Kimberly Weich Reusche, at 916.442.4446, ext. 15, or kwreusche [at] alac [dot] org.
GARY TRUDEAU LENDS CARTOON CHARACTER TO NO-SMOKING CAMPAIGN
The American Lung Association of Los Angeles County joined officials in Santa Monica to kick off the "No Smoking on Santa Monica Beaches" awareness campaign, complete with Gary Trudeau's Doonesbury comic strip character Mr. Butts.
Stickers featuring Mr. Butts were designed by Trudeau specifically for the campaign. The stickers were plastered on 600 beach trash cans and included in other efforts to raise awareness among beachgoers about the smoking ban on Santa Monica beaches.
For more information, contact Sondra Widland at 323.935.5864 or swidland [at] lalung [dot] org.
STATE BUDGET INCLUDES FUNDING FOR ASTHMA AND CLEAN AIR PROGRAMS
Among the hundreds of appropriations signed into law with the $117.3 billion state budget are two new funding areas that assist American Lung Association supported programs.
The state budget includes $3 million in one-time only funds for statewide asthma programs, which will reinstate the only children?s asthma intervention programs that currently exist in state government within the Department of Health Services, including the Childhood Asthma Initiative and the California Asthma Among the School Aged project. There will also be funds available for important asthma environmental and surveillance activities.
A total of $25 million is also included in the budget to replace pre-1977 school buses and retrofit older school buses to reduce toxic diesel soot. The American Lung Association of California strongly supported this budget augmentation because California has one of the oldest and most polluting school bus fleets in the nation, with almost half of the nation's pre-1977 school buses.
For more information, contact Paul Knepprath at 916.442.4446 or pknepprath [at] alac [dot] org.
DONTCRUSH.COM SAVES TOYOTA RAV4 EVS FROM EXTINCTION
The Campaign to Save Electric Cars, whose international protests against the crushing of electric cars by General Motors and Ford made front-page headlines, changed Ford's policies and saved hundreds of electric cars, may have worked out a deal with Toyota to save RAV4 EVs. The car company has agreed to stop crushing salable, useable RAV4 EVs.
Under the new deal, current lessees will have the option to continually renew their leases as long as the vehicle is usable, as defined by Toyota and the consumer. Toyota will re-examine their policy of not selling fleet RAV4s and attempt to give current lessees the option to purchase their vehicles outright.
Toyota will create a process by which RAV4 EVs deemed not salable or usable will be dismantled for parts to be used by the remaining vehicles. Vehicles neither re-leased nor purchased will continue to be used by being sold to the public, used in the Toyota corporate fleet, or made available for use by non-profit organizations.
The American Lung Association of California continues to help draw attention to campaigns like these that reflect strong consumer support for cleaner transportation options.
For more information, visit www.dontcrush.com or contact Andy Weisser at 818.703.6444 or aweisser [at] earthlink [dot] net. For more information about cleaner vehicles, visit: http://californialung.org/spotlight/vehicles.html
MODEL SCHOOL POLICIES ADOPTED IN OAKLAND UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
Oakland Unified School District passed one of the most comprehensive and progressive asthma management policies thanks to the efforts of Joan Edelstein, RN, Oakland Berkeley Asthma Coalition, and the American Lung Association of the East Bay?s Oakland Kicks Asthma Team.
Designed to reduce the impact of asthma in Oakland, where asthma rates are some of the highest in the state, the new policy focuses on educating school staff, students and parents about asthma. It requires the district to designate a school nurse as an asthma specialist, file asthma management plans for students with asthma, and train three front office personnel at each school how to administer asthma medications.
For more information, contact Adam Davis at 510.893.5474 or adavis [at] alaebay [dot] org.
E-ADVOCACY SURVEY SHOWS 44 PERCENT ALWAYS RESPOND TO e-ALERTS
A recent online survey of e-Advocacy Network participants shows that nearly half, or 44 percent of those who answered the survey, always respond to e-alerts sent by the American Lung Association of California?s government relations office. Surveys were sent to all 4,500 e-Advocacy Network members and 461 filled out the online questionnaire.
The majority of respondents are most interested in air pollution, both outdoor (78 percent) and indoor (61 percent), and tobacco control (68 percent). Nearly 90 percent of respondents said e-Alerts contain just the right amount of information needed to take action and nearly 75 percent said sending e-mails and e-faxes to elected officials "makes some difference" in how they vote.
To join the e-Advocacy Network, visit http://lungaction.org/AM_LUNG_CA/home.html
For more information, contact Renee Sankus at 916.442.4446 or rsankus [at] alac [dot] org.
RESEARCHER HOPES TO REDUCE LUNG CANCER DEATHS
Juliana Oh, Ph.D., hopes that someday her research into a gene that suppresses tumor growth will eventually help reduce lung cancer deaths. Her project was refunded by the American Lung Association of California, allowing her to work on the study at the University of California, Los Angeles, for another year.
It seems that the suppressor gene is not present in people who get lung cancer, allowing lung cancer tumors to grow. Oh thinks the carcinogens in tobacco may kill the tumor-suppressor gene in some people.
"When people smoke, that region of the chromosome may get deleted," Oh says. "The significance is that if we could figure out how to test for this gene, the lack of it would be a predictor. It would allow physicians to detect lung cancer before any tumors have the opportunity to grow."
For more information, contact Kerlyn Chatelain-Graham at 510.638.5864 or kcgraham [at] alac [dot] org
TELL A FRIENDForward 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.
HAVING A SUMMER PARTY?
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