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Navajo Nation Tribal Council Bans Commercial Tobacco Use in All Public Places

7/30/2008

Statement by Dr. Cheryl Healton, President and CEO

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The American Legacy Foundation commends the Navajo Nation Tribal Council on their efforts to ban commercial tobacco use in all public places. The Navajo Commercial Tobacco-Free Act of 2008 will help to extend and save the lives of thousands of tribal members. This unprecedented measure will serve as the catalyst for the improvement of major health disparities in tribal communities.

While tobacco has played an honored ceremonial role in the lives of Native Americans for centuries, current rates of commercial tobacco use among Native Americans are alarmingly high. Thirty-two percent of all adult Native Americans smoke in comparison with a 20.8 percent adult smoking rate nationwide. In 2005, thirty-six percent of teens in the Navajo Nation were current smokers.  These rates far exceed other minority/ethnic groups and measures like this one are vital to curbing tobacco consumption and saving lives. Cardiovascular disease is the primary cause of death in the U.S. among Native Americans.

The significant efforts to create smoke-free reservations, casinos, indoor and outdoor areas are timely; they will also reduce the harmful effects of secondhand smoke and simultaneously encourage Native American smokers to quit.

The Navajo Nation Tribal Council has taken a critical step forward in improving public health of Native Americans and the American Legacy Foundation salutes them for playing a leadership role that we hope will result in longer, healthier lives in the Navajo Nation.  American Cancer Society and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation should also be applauded for the financial contributions that helped to make this important progress possible. 

The American Legacy Foundation^® is dedicated to building a world where young people reject tobacco and anyone can quit. Located in Washington, D.C., the foundation develops programs that address the health effects of tobacco use, especially among vulnerable populations disproportionately affected by the toll of tobacco, through grants, technical assistance and training, partnerships, youth activism, and counter-marketing and grassroots marketing campaigns. The foundation’s programs include truth^®, a national youth smoking prevention campaign that has been cited as contributing to significant declines in youth smoking; EX^®, an innovative public health program designed to speak to smokers in their own language and change the way they approach quitting; research initiatives exploring the causes, consequences and approaches to reducing tobacco use; and a nationally-renowned program of outreach to priority populations. The American Legacy Foundation was created as a result of the November 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) reached between attorneys general from 46 states, five U.S. territories and the tobacco industry. Visit http://www.americanlegacy.org/.

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Contact: Najma Roberts, 202-454-5561, nroberts@americanlegacy.org