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TOBACCO EDUCATION AND RESEARCH OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE

Achieving Health Equity: Toward a Commercial Tobacco-Free California, 2021 -2022

About the Plan

ā€‹ā€‹The Tobacco Education and Research Oversight Committee (TEROC) was established by the enabling legislation for Proposition 99 (California Health and Safety Code, Sections 104370) which mandates TEROC to: ā€‹

ā€‹ā€‹Prepare

ā€‹Prepare a comprehensive Master Plan to guide California tobacco control efforts, tobacco use prevention education, and tobacco-related disease research;

ā€‹Advise

Advise the California Department of Public Health, the California Department of Education, and the University of California regarding the administration of Proposition 99 and Proposition 56 funded programs;

Monitor

Monitor the use of Proposition 99 and Proposition 56 tobacco tax revenues for tobacco control programs, prevention education, and tobacco-related research; and

Provide

Provide programmatic and budgetary reports on Proposition 99 and Proposition 56 tobacco control efforts to the California Legislature with recommendations for any necessary policy changes or improvements.


Achieving Health Equity: Toward a Commercial Tobacco-Free California, 2021-2022 Executive Summary

The vision of a commercial tobacco-free California

The tobacco control movement in California has had enormous success in reducing the toll of commercial tobacco use.1 In the 30 years following the passage of Proposition 99, the Tobacco Tax and Health Protection Act of 1988, adult smoking prevalence in California fell from 23.7 percent of adults in 1988 to 10.0 percent in 2019.2 Over roughly the same period, lung cancer mortality rates were cut nearly in half.3 The movement is driven by a vision in which there is no commercial tobacco use in California, only sacred use among Tribes with that tradition. It is important to differentiate between traditional tobacco, which is used in sacred ways by American Indians, and commercial tobacco, produced for recreational use by companies and contains chemical additives linked to death and disease. The mission of the Tobacco Education and Research Oversight Committee (TEROC) and of the agencies it oversees is to support the right of all Californians to be as healthy as possible, by eliminating tobacco-related disparities and fighting the tobacco industry that exploits communities for profit.

 

With this strategic plan for 2021-2022, TEROC sets three broad goals:

  1.  Effectively inform, engage, and empower stakeholders to eliminate disparities and redress the structural, political, and social determinants that sustain California's tobacco epidemic.
  2. Reduce the rates of tobacco use to 8 percent of adults and 8 percent of high school students, with greater-than-proportional reductions among priority populations.
  3. Apply lessons learned from tobacco control to address the triangulum of tobacco, cannabis, and e-cigarette use in California.
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Dr. Michael Ong, Chair of TEROC, spoke about the new Plan in a podcast.

 

A second podcast discusses the new Plan with the three agencies overseen by TEROC the California Tobacco Control Program, and the Tobacco Related Disease Research Program.

 

One-Page Overview of the TEROC Plan Executive Summary (PDF)

 

The full Achieving Health Equity: Toward a Commercial Tobacco-Free California Plan, 2021-2022 (PDF)

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References

1. California Department of Public Health, California Tobacco Control Program. 30 Years of Success and Innovation: Celebrating the Past, Present, and Future of Tobacco Control in California. Sacramento, CA: California Department of Public Health;2020.

2. Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 1988 to 2019. Sacramento, CA: California Department of Public Health;  October 2019.

3. Morris CR, Cooley J, Movsisyan A, et al. Trends in Cancer Incidence and Mortality in California, 1988-2017. Sacramento, CA: California Cancer Reporting and Epidemiologic Surveillance (CARES) Program, University of California Davis Health; June 2020.

4. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Health Consequences of Smoking--50 Years of Progress. A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health; 2014.

5. Vuong TD, Zhang X, Roeseler A. California Tobacco Facts and Figures 2019. Sacramento, CA: California Department of Public Health; May 2019.

6. Braveman P, Arkin E, Orleans T, Proctor D, Plough A. What Is Health Equity? And What Difference Does a Definition Make? Princeton, NJ: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; May 2017.

7. Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. Flavored Tobacco Products Attract Kids.  September 2020.


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