Jobless found more likely to smoke

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Smoking up for first time since '94

Cigarette smoking rose slightly for the first time in almost 15 years, dashing health officials' hopes that the U.S. smoking rate had moved permanently below 20 percent.

A little under 21 percent of U.S. adults said they smoked, according to a 2008 national survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That's up slightly from the year before, when just 19.8 percent said they were smokers. It also is the first increase in adult smoking since 1994, experts noted.

The increase was so small, it could be just a blip, so health officials and experts say smoking prevalence is flat, not rising. But they are unhappy.

Recession causes more families to go without food

WASHINGTON — The number of U.S. households that are struggling to feed their members jumped by 4 million to 17 million last year, as recession-fueled job losses and increased poverty and unemployment fueled a surge in hunger, a government survey reported Monday.

These "food-insecure" households represent about 49 million people and make up 14.6 percent, or more than one in seven, of all U.S. households. That's the highest rate since the U.S. Department of Agriculture began monitoring the issue in 1995.

Additionally, more than one-third of these struggling families — some 6.7 million households, or 17.2 million people last year — had "very low food security," in which food intake was reduced and eating patterns were disrupted for some family members because of a lack of food.

Panel wants an end to military smoking

The U.S. military's long, storied love affair with tobacco may be doomed.

The Pentagon, which actively promoted smoking during the two world wars and still subsidizes tobacco at PXs and commissaries, is considering a ban.

That's one recommendation from a panel led by a former dean of the School of Medicine at UNC-Chapel Hill that was asked by the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs how to reduce tobacco use in the military.

Turning on tobacco

A March 19 letter called Gov. Beverly Perdue's proposal to raise the state's cigarette tax $1 per pack gutsy. It is anything but gutsy to raise taxes on 20 percent of working North Carolinians, most of whom are classified as poor or working poor, to foot the bill for the governor's new spending proposals.

Let's be clear: No one wants kids to smoke. In fact, youth smoking rates are half of what they were a decade ago. This is attributable to better education and enforcement of cigarette-sales laws across the country. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, N.C. retailers meet federal guidelines by preventing underage tobacco purchases more than 85 percent of the time.

What is not working is this state's economy. The textile and furniture industries are all but gone. Now, the governor appears to be trying to run the tobacco industry out of the state. The tobacco industry provides 50,000 jobs and billions in wages and taxes in North Carolina. Perdue's tax proposal will further drive

N.C. earns a 'D'in obesity, exercise

Obesity rates are rising faster in North Carolina than the national average, and physical activity lags, giving the state a D in those subjects on its annual health report card.

But there is progress, according to N.C. Prevention Partners, which has been grading the state on its health habits since 1998.

The state improved to a C+ from a C on its tobacco use. That score could soon rise to a B as a result of actions taken this year by the state legislature, which passed a law to ban smoking in bars and restaurants.