Information from the 2006 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) and estimates of key prevalence indicators are now available online at http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/surveys/NYTS/index.htm#NYTS2006. This summary and the accompanying tables provide a full description of data from the 2006 NYTS and changes in current tobacco use since 2004, followed by a discussion of findings and programmatic implications.

2006 National Youth Tobacco Survey and Key Prevalence Indicators
From 2004-2006, middle school students reported significant declines overall in current use of any tobacco product, cigarettes, cigars, and bidis, but not in current use of smokeless tobacco, pipes, or kreteks. No significant changes overall in either the use of specific tobacco products or in the use of any tobacco product were observed among high school students during this same period. While there is not a ready explanation at this time for the recent significant declines in tobacco use seen among middle school students, these younger students’ significantly lower level of exposure to pro-tobacco advertising and promotion may, at least in part, explain this decline. When taken together, these patterns suggest that enhanced and sustained comprehensive tobacco control efforts are needed to further reduce tobacco use prevalence. Likewise, ongoing and effective surveillance and evaluation of tobacco use among youth are essential for monitoring whether declines noted among middle school students continue as they age into high school.

For questions specific to the NYTS survey please contact Heather Ryan at hryan@cdc.gov.

For media-related inquiries please contact the OSH Press Line at 770-488-5493.

Secondhand Smoke Casino Advocacy Guide

How to conduct a secondhand smoke campaign with Indian-owned casinos

The California Rural Indian Health Board’s (CRIHB) American Indian Tobacco Education Partnership (AITEP) has created an advocacy guide that assists health educators and tobacco control advocates in initiating and maintaining a cooperative professional relationship with American Indian communities, their Tribal Governments and Casino Management.

Many health educators are familiar with organizing and running a smoke-free campaign. Perhaps you have created a smoke-free event in your area, or helped pass a smoke-free local ordinance or campaigned for a tribal or state law. As a good advocate, you know that it is imperative to assess and understand the needs of your target audience. This guide is specifically for the purpose of developing a smoke free campaign with American Indian-owned casinos. It will help the user understand the history and issues concerning American Indian casinos as well as the best methods for working with tribes to advocate for smoke-free policies that address their needs and concerns as well as those of the health care community.

The guide begins with an overview of the political economy of tribal casinos, discusses the history of tribal governments and issues surrounding the history of American Indians and the financial benefits resulting from Indian casinos. The guide then provides information on how to conduct an advocacy campaign with American Indian casinos, as well as some sample objectives and a campaign checklist. The appendices contain useful advocacy tools for working with casinos and tribes, including a casino telephone survey, the AITEP casino guide, a telephone survey script, sample introduction letters to tribal governments, casino observation forms, sample policies, a sample press release, and other tools to assist with the campaign.

AITEP’s SHS Casino Advocacy Guide has received support from tribally-elected officials, tribal health program staff, casino managers, and the State of California’s Tobacco Control Section, who funded its development. Our research has found strong support among casino patrons and staff working in the casinos for improved secondhand smoke policies. In large urban casinos in California, more than 80% of patrons reported that they would play at least as often in smoke-free rooms, and more than 80% of the staff reported that they would prefer to work in a smoke-free environment.

Advocacy Guide with images (3.78MB Microsoft Word Document) (799KB Adobe Acrobat PDF)

Advocacy Guide (392KB Microsoft Word Document) (467KB Adobe Acrobat PDF)

Cover page for Advocacy Guide (Microsoft Publisher Document)

For additional information on the CRIHB Secondhand Smoke Casino Advocacy Guide, please contact Mr. Raul Salazar at (916) 929-9761, or via e-mail at raul.salazar@ihs.gov.

As a public health foundation focused on tobacco, the American Legacy Foundation educates Americans about the dangers of tobacco use and facilitates a public dialogue that can empower people to reject tobacco and live tobacco-free lives.

American Legacy Foundation

Helping Young Smokers Quit


Youth smoking cessation programs are invited to apply for participation in a ground-breaking national study!

Most high school-aged smokers want to quit, and almost two-thirds of them have tried to quit without success. Responding to this need, smoking cessation programs that target youth have sprung up across the United States, but very few have been formally evaluated.

The Helping Young Smokers Quit (HYSQ) study will be looking at a wide mix of practices now being used by youth cessation programs across the United States. The information collected will be used to fill a gap in knowledge about the types of programs that are currently being offered, to identify those that are more effective, and to highlight promising directions for future research and programming. The results will help states, communities, schools, and other community-based and youth-serving organizations adopt and implement programs that work.

Participating programs will receive reports of the study findings, guidance and tools for future self-assessment, and monetary payments over the course of the yearlong evaluation. For a complete description of the evaluation, please visit the HYSQ web site at www.helpingyoungsmokersquit.org.

To take part in this exciting opportunity, programs must apply on-line at the HYSQ site between March 15 and May 15, 2004.

HYSQ is a national program administered by the University of Illinois at Chicago, and supported by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Cancer Institute.

For a complete description of the evaluation and how to apply click here: www.helpingyoungsmokersquit.org.