Organizations plan grassroots campaigns against secondhand smoke

Publication Date: 2005-01-20

• Author:Cristina Rodriguez
• Publication:Shreveport Times

...Those thoughts will be on the minds of many agencies across the state next year trying to battle what Dr. Tom Houston, director of the Louisiana Campaign for Tobacco-Free Living, says is the No. 1 killer of Louisiana residents.

The statewide campaign, run by the Louisiana Public Health Institute, is currently recruiting groups to apply for $1 million in grants collected through a 2-cent tax on every pack of cigarettes sold. So far they've been urging church groups, after-school programs, civic groups and others to think of ways they can cut back on secondhand smoke in their communities, then ask for money to help them do the project...

"I guess the ultimate goal, besides reducing the immediate health effects caused by secondhand smoke, is to reduce the number of people who smoke in Louisiana by changing the way society looks at smoking, by changing the social norms that relate to smoking," he said.