Up in Smoke

This Thursday, approximately one-quarter of the country’s smokers, or nearly 12 million people, will try to kick the habit for good as part of the American Cancer Society’s 21st Great American Smokeout.

Beginning Jan. 1, bars, taverns and gaming clubs throughout California will also kick the habit, as a new statewide law banning indoor smoking in such establishments takes effect.

“One hundred percent of my customers have nothing good to say about it,” said Patrick Mulcahy, manager of Ireland’s 32, a neghborhood tavern in Van Nuys, where an estimated 80% of the clientele smoke. “It’s just a step away from Prohibition.”

Approximately 20% of all deaths in Los Angeles County are from smoking-related illnesses, which amounts to about 30 people each day, according to the county’s Department of Health Services. A total of $1.2 billion, including $382 million for indigents, was spent on health care for smoking-related illnesses in the county in 1993.

It’s been a tough year for the tobacco industry, with Congress approving a 15-cent tobacco tax hike, a U.S. district judge ruling the Food and Drug Administration has the right to regulate tobacco, the industry agreeing to a $14.7 billion combined settlement of health care suits brought by Florida and Mississippi and the announcement of a $368.5-billion truce to reimburse state for tobacco-related health care costs.

Meanwhile, President Clinton is calling for a reduction in teenage smoking and criticism of the depiction of tobacco use in films is mounting.

Profile of the American Smoker

Adult Smoker

United States

Total: 47.7 million (in 1994)

Women: 22.7 million*

Men: 25 million*

* 21% of adults nationwide smoked daily

* 4.5% smoked on some days

* Highest percentage nationwide: male high school dropouts (46%)

* Highest percentage ethnic group nationwide: American Indians/Alaska Natives (42%)

*

Adult Smoker

Los Angeles County

18.2%

1.2 million or 18.2% of population (in 1996)*

* Estimate

Source: American Cancer Society, Los Angeles County Department of Health Service

Cigarettes Sold in U.S. in billions

*--*

Sept. 1996 Sept. 1997 Phillip Morris Inc. 229.3 235.64 R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. 120.12 116.86 Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. 84.21 78.01 Lorillard Tobacco Co. 40.10 41.41 Liggett Group Inc. 9.23 7.13 all others 1.62 4.43 Total 484.58 483.48

*--*

Source: The Maxwell Report

Cigarettes Sold Outside the U.S. in billions

*--*

1995 1996 Phillip Morris Inc. 593.2 660.2 R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. 179.0 197.0 Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. 56.1 51.8 Total (in trillion)* 5.29 5.32

*--*

* Includes U.S.

Source: Individual companies, U.S. Department of Agriculture

Advertising dollars spent in 1995 (change from 1994)

Promotional items: $1.87 billion (+11.1%)

Coupons, multiple pack promotions, etc.: $1.35 billion (+8%)

Specialty items: $665.2 million (-21.8%)

Point-of-sale promotional materials: $259 million (-24.4%)

Outdoor ads: $273.7 million (+14%)

Magazine ads: $248.8 million (-1.1%)

Public entertainment: $110.7 million (+36.1%)

Sporting events: $83 million (+9.2%)

Direct mail ads: $34.6 million (+11%)

Transit ads: $22.5 million (-23.2%)

Newspaper ads: $19.1 million (-20.8%)

Free samples: $13.8 million (+97.1%)

Total: $4.9 billion (+1.2%)

Source: Federal Trade Commission

Seconhand Smoke

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency declared that secondhand smoke, also called environmental tobacco smoke, is a human carcinogen.

Children exposed to secondhand smoke have increased risks of:

* Respiratory illnesses and infections

* Impaired development of lung function

* Middle ear infections

Babies whose mothers smoked during pregnancy are more likely to die of sudden infant death syndrome.

About 3,000 nonsmoking adults die of lunch cancer each year as a result of breathing secondhand smoke.

It causes an estimated 35,000 to 40,000 deaths per year heart disease in people who are not current smokers.

Source: American Cancer Society

Cost of Tobacco

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that tobacco costs the United States more than $100 billion a year in health care costs and lost economic productivity.

* Medicare cost: moe than $10 billion

* Medicaid: more than $5 billion nationwide per year

* Costs of smoking-related illnesses in L.A. County: $1.24 billion

* On average, each cigarette pack sold costs Americans more than $3.90 in smoking-related expenses.

Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Cancer Society and Office of Technology Assessment and “The Cost of Smoking in California, 1993” by Wendy Max and Dorothy Rice.

Deaths

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that cigarettes kill more than 400,000 Americans each year. Other causes of death in 1995:

Car accidents: 43,484

Suicide: 31,284

AIDS: 43,115

Homicide: 22,552

Alcohol: 20,231

Drugs: 14,212

Fire: 3,761

Cigar Smoking

Cigars, which hit their peak in 1973, when 11.2 billion were sold nationally, are experiencing a resurgence. Cigars carry no health warnings beacause Congress did not explicitly include cigars in the 1984 law requiring such warnings on cigarettes.

* Nearly 4.6 billion cigars were sold in the United States in 1996

* There are about 10 million cigars smokers in America

* Overall cancer deaths among men who smoke cigars are 34% higher than among nonsmokers

* Cigar smokers have 4 to 10 times the risk of nonsmokers of dying from laryngeal, oral or esophageal cancers

Sources: Cigar Assn. of America, American Cancer Society

Smokeless Tobacco

The U.S. Surgeon General determined in 1986 that smokeless tobacco “is not a safe substitute for smoking cigarettes. It can cause cancer and a number of noncancerous oral conditions and can lead to nicotine addition and dependence.” Despite this finding, the more people are using chewing tobacco and snuff.

* U.S. output of moist snuff has increased 83%, from about 30 million pounds in 1981 to about 55 million pounds in 1993

* About 6% of adult men and 1% of adult women use smokeless tobacco.

* About 20% of male high school students reported using smokeless tobacco in 1995.

Sources: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Pipe Smoking

Pipe smoking has been on a downhill trend since about 1970, when an estimated 52 million pounds of pipe tobacco was sold in the United States.

* There are 3 million pipe smokers in the United States

Source: Pipe Tobacco Council

Sources: Staff reports; Researched by STEPHANIE STASSEL / Los Angeles Times