If you are a farmworker in America, chances are you won’t live to be 50. That’s because the average life expectancy for a U.S. farmworker is 49 years. For an average citizen, it's 79. That’s a 30-year difference – and one that shouldn’t exist.
Farmworkers have been asking for years to meet with Reynolds Tobacco – to simply have a conversation about the state of their working conditions. But Reynolds has failed to sit down with farmworkers, leaving the conversation silent and workers struggling to get by.
This fight isn’t about more vacations or longer lunch breaks – it’s about making the work of farmworkers safe and sustainable.
Call on Reynolds Tobacco to stop the systematic abuse of farmworkers – and meet with them to ensure they have a safe and sustainable working environment.
Showing posts with label quit smoke. Show all posts
Showing posts with label quit smoke. Show all posts
Friday, September 30, 2011
Friday, July 17, 2009
Pentagon OKs tobacco in combat
Everyone knows that we all would be better off if no one smoked. It would prevent a lot of premature deaths and save a lot of money on medical and insurance bills. And it's nice to enjoy a nice piece of salmon in a good restaurant without having to inhale someone's second-hand smoke.
But telling someone to quit who is at risk of getting his or her tail shot off or walking by an exploding car might be too much. So, the Pentagon told its troops Wednesday that it won't ban tobacco products in war zones.
Eventually, the military might become nonsmoking but that is a long way down the road, maybe 20 years or more. The Pentagon has had plans before to reduce or ban smoking in the military with little success. A 1999 plan to reduce smoking rates by 5 percent a year and reduce chewing tobacco use to 15 percent by 2001 fell flat.
The press secretary for the Defense Department said that Defense Secretary Robert Gates "knows that the situation they (soldiers) are confronting is stressful enough as it is. I don't think he is interested in adding to the stress levels by taking away one of the few outlets they may have to relieve stress."
Of course, smoking in combat zones will make it more difficult to quit smoking when the soldiers return. That has been a problem in every war.
Maybe getting the recruits to quit during basic training and at the service academies would be a good place to start the nonsmoking policy.
But telling someone to quit who is at risk of getting his or her tail shot off or walking by an exploding car might be too much. So, the Pentagon told its troops Wednesday that it won't ban tobacco products in war zones.
Eventually, the military might become nonsmoking but that is a long way down the road, maybe 20 years or more. The Pentagon has had plans before to reduce or ban smoking in the military with little success. A 1999 plan to reduce smoking rates by 5 percent a year and reduce chewing tobacco use to 15 percent by 2001 fell flat.
The press secretary for the Defense Department said that Defense Secretary Robert Gates "knows that the situation they (soldiers) are confronting is stressful enough as it is. I don't think he is interested in adding to the stress levels by taking away one of the few outlets they may have to relieve stress."
Of course, smoking in combat zones will make it more difficult to quit smoking when the soldiers return. That has been a problem in every war.
Maybe getting the recruits to quit during basic training and at the service academies would be a good place to start the nonsmoking policy.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Few tobacco users get the help they need to quit
Many tobacco users want to quit to save their own lives and to protect the health of their families, but are unable to because of their addiction to nicotine. The vast majority of countries do not help tobacco users who want to quit. Currently, only nine of 173 Member State respondents offer the highest assessed level of support, which includes a full range of treatment and at least partial financial subsidies. These countries account for a mere 5% of the world’s population – meaning that the remaining 95% do not have access to treatment for tobacco dependence.
There is a wide range of effective cessation services, including brief routine advice from health-care workers, quit lines, and medications made available through retail stores if not provided directly by either health-care or public health programmes. Currently, 22 countries offer tobacco users no help at all in the form of basic services such as counselling or pharmacotherapy. It is impossible for people to obtain nicotine replacement therapy at all in 39 countries, even if they have the means to pay for it themselves. Quit lines are fairly inexpensive and within the means of many countries, yet only 44 countries, covering less than two fifths of the world’s population, provide them.
There is a wide range of effective cessation services, including brief routine advice from health-care workers, quit lines, and medications made available through retail stores if not provided directly by either health-care or public health programmes. Currently, 22 countries offer tobacco users no help at all in the form of basic services such as counselling or pharmacotherapy. It is impossible for people to obtain nicotine replacement therapy at all in 39 countries, even if they have the means to pay for it themselves. Quit lines are fairly inexpensive and within the means of many countries, yet only 44 countries, covering less than two fifths of the world’s population, provide them.
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