tobacco – Journey Home

Following is an email sent to my State Representative Judd Lawler on Sunday, Feb. 8. A subcommittee advanced HF 781 last week and there is debate about whether it is right for Iowa in 2026. Of course it is.

Dear Rep. Lawler,

I live in rural Solon in your district. I appreciate receiving your legislative updates and read them all. Not too many, and not too few of them. Thank you.

I am writing today to ask the House Commerce Committee take up HF 781 which was passed out of committee last week. As you know, the bill seeks to close the loophole regarding smoking in casinos left open to pass the Iowa Smokefree Air Act.

I was on the Johnson County board of health when the law went into effect on July 1, 2008 and it was important for all the good things the law does. At the time I felt if compromise was needed to receive the positive benefits of the law, then so be it.

However, since then, there is new, discouraging information about the frequency of cancer in Iowa. Second hand smoke is a known carcinogen, and limiting or removing it from casinos is a proposal whose time is right. We owe it to casino customers and workers to do this.

When I managed some trucking fleets in Pennsylvania I brought my managers into the Philadelphia area and we visited the Trump casinos in Atlantic City one night. The air was clean inside them. The future president fought regulation of tobacco smoke inside his casinos because he felt customers would seek gambling in nearby Pennsylvania. Of course, that argument is less relevant in Iowa today since of the surrounding states, only Missouri permits tobacco use inside casinos.

I wanted to let you know this is a long-standing issue for me. I urge you and the Commerce Committee to take up the bill before the first funnel and pass it to the floor for debate.

Thank you for reading my message and good luck this session.

Neglecting Public Health

Tobacco smoke. Photo by Jill Burrow on Pexels.com

I spent six years on my county’s board of health. It was the most substantial volunteer work I have done. We touched upon almost every aspect of the community and it felt like we were making a difference. Under Republican leadership the state’s public health system is getting worse.

Let’s talk about cancer. According to the Iowa Cancer Registry, an estimated 21,000 Iowans will be diagnosed with cancer in 2024. Iowa has the fastest-growing rate of new cancers and the second-highest rate of new cancers in the country, according to the report. Breast cancer, lung cancer, and prostate cancer make up 40.5 percent of new cancer diagnoses. Iowa deaths from cancer are trending down, yet at what point will increases in diagnosed cancers take the death rate another direction?

Is alcohol use about personal freedom or regulation? Iowa has the fourth highest rate of binge drinking in the country, which the Centers for Disease Control defines as five or more drinks on one occasion for men and four or more for women. When that is the case, public health should be stepping in. In part, that is why we study data. Alcohol is a leading cause of cancer, among other maladies.

Are decisions to use tobacco also personal? I suppose so, yet there are more than 345,000 Iowans who smoke cigarettes and our smoking rate remains above the national average of 12.9%. Tobacco use is also a leading cause of cancer.

What is the Republican-led state government doing about tobacco use? On April 18, the Iowa House passed HF2673 to eliminate the state’s longstanding Tobacco Use Prevention and Control Program. The law would place tobacco prevention under a larger agency along with programs related to gambling, substance abuse, and addiction disorders. After previously passing the Senate, Governor Reynolds is expected to sign the bill. The FY25 Health and Human Services state budget bill currently being considered also eliminates dedicated funding for the state’s tobacco prevention program.

Don’t get me started on pesticide use, air quality, and water pollution.

As a former member of the county board of health, I know a lot of activity is based upon how the state and federal governments set regulations and requirements. What is now happening is an unseen erosion of public health that will eventually take a noticeable toll. A good public health program is about prevention. Under Republican governance, prevention is not as important as it once was.

Here is a link to the Iowa Democratic Party to get involved today.