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CURRENT ISSUE OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS

One of the main objectives of the Department of Health and Human Services during the Clinton administration has been to educate against the use of tobacco products. The organization has been given an increased budget to finance advertising campaigns targeted at informing the public of the statistics regarding smoking deaths. Such advertisements have increased greatly in number since the massive class action suits the states launched against the tobacco companies. The vast majority of the ads have been focused on kids, who are the heart of the issue. For the most part, this is a result of public demand on the office of the presidency to keep kids away from tabacco use.

Here is the policy of the Department of Health and Human Services on this ussue in absolute formality...

We will support education campaigns to deliver the anti-tobacco message. Our efforts will focus on:

• leading a national campaign to educate Americans about the health effects of tobacco use.
• incorporating tobacco education into Department programs and initiatives that target youth such as Project Youth Connect, Teen Parents, Girl Power!, and the Runaway and Homeless Youth program.
• promoting the adoption of tobacco education programs by primary care health care professionals and incorporation of the programs into primary care services, including department programs such as the Indian Health Service.
• widely distributing information to practitioners and the public on the consequences of tobacco use through National Clearinghouse on Alcohol and Drug Information.
• disseminating Public Health Service guidelines on smoking cessation for health care practitioners and brochures for consumers.

We will support state tobacco control programs in all states that will: educate young people about the dangers of tobacco use and help them to refuse tobacco use; promote cessation of tobacco use among youth and adults; protect the public from secondhand smoke; identify and eliminate disparities in tobacco use among population subgroups; and reduce the use of smokeless tobacco.

We will provide temporary assistance to state health departments, schools, local governments, national anti-tobacco organizations and other organizations to help develop tobacco prevention and control programs (in collaboration with the Department of Education). This effort will include a focus on helping states implement the Synar Amendment.

We will continue to support enforcement of state and local laws and regulations preventing the sale of tobacco to minors through data sharing and technical assistance.

We will undertake research and demonstrations to:

• better understand why people smoke (the genetic base, environmental interactions) as a precursor to developing better interventions to prevent or stop tobacco use.
• monitor trends in tobacco use.
• design new ways of preventing or stopping tobacco use and assess the effectiveness of interventions.
• learn how to more effectively translate proven interventions into practice.