The mission of the Sutter County Tobacco Control Program is to improve the health of Sutter County residents by reducing chronic disease, illness, and premature death attributable to the use of tobacco products through policy, systems, and environmental changes.
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New Survey Reveals Large Proportion of Sutter County Youth Think It Would Be Easy to Get E-Cigarettes
County-wide survey finds students susceptible to future tobacco use
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New research shows that over 43% of students in Sutter County believe it would be easy to obtain e-cigarettes. These findings are part of new research released today on student use of, knowledge of, and attitudes toward tobacco products, including cigarettes, e-cigarettes, smokeless tobacco and, marijuana.
Over 2,000 students from middle and high schools in Sutter County were surveyed as part of a public health campaign to address the current youth e-cigarette epidemic. The California Student Tobacco Survey (CSTS) is a scientific survey, which is one of the most extensive tobacco-focused surveys conducted with students in the Sutter County area to this date.
Overall, the findings show positivity that the use of traditional cigarettes has decreased to historical lows among youth, but the risk for future use of non-traditional tobacco products remain high. The thousands of flavored tobacco products on the market, along with the tech-inspired devices and predatory marketing by the tobacco industry fuel the rising popularity of e-cigarettes among adolescents. Most students in Sutter County that use tobacco products use flavored e-cigarettes and many non-users are at risk for future use.
The survey found the following for Sutter County:
- Among Sutter County students who had never used tobacco, over one-third were susceptible to future use.
- Nearly 20% of students had been offered a tobacco product in the last 30 days.
- In Sutter County, almost 30% of middle and high school students have tried a tobacco product.
There is a widespread popularity of e-cigarettes among teens and young adults. We are also seeing cases of vaping-associated pulmonary injury in California, which should motivate our community to take the necessary steps to protect our counties young people from the risks of e-cigarettes.
Another goal was to examine the impact that secondhand smoke and secondhand aerosol has on youth in Sutter County.
This survey found that a large amount of students were exposed to secondhand vapor or secondhand smoke. There aren’t currently smoke-free protections at out-door dinning locations were many families dine or for youth living in apartments. Exposure to secondhand smoke and secondhand vapor continues to put at risk the health of non-smoking Sutter County residents, including youth, elderly, and other health-vulnerable populations. Children, especially, have limited choice to protect themselves from smoke and vapor around them. Building resilience starts with communities providing protections for their most vulnerable.
Additional survey findings for Sutter County:
- Two in five students had been exposed to vapor from an e-cigarette or smoke from a traditional cigarette in a room or car within the last 30 days.
- 30% of students were exposed to pro-tobacco ads.
- Four out of five students who had visited a convenience store in the last 30 days were exposed to flavored tobacco ads.
The rising popularity of e-cigarettes among youth in Sutter County continues to be a matter of concern. Current e-cigarette use among middle and high school students in Sutter County is 6.6%, which accounts for the majority of all youth tobacco use (9.3%). While youth use of traditional cigarettes has decreased, the majority of youth that currently use do so because of their access and addiction to e-cigarettes.
Sutter County Public Health is committed to continuing to work with local health advocates and partners to provide accurate information and help make the healthy choice the easy choice for Californians.
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Excerpt from Tobacco Free CA
What You Need to Know About the Vape Outbreak
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A sudden and severe lung illness from vaping has affected over a thousand people in the US, becoming a public health crisis. Nearly all patients have been hospitalized, receiving treatments including medically induced coma, breathing machines, and advanced life support interventions.
People with lung damage from vaping typically have symptoms that start a few days to a few weeks before they go see a doctor. All people hospitalized developed some type of breathing problems, but many people also have other symptoms. The symptoms reported by those affected are:
- Cough, shortness of breath, or chest pain
- Nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, or diarrhea
- Fatigue, fever, or unexplained weight loss
If you vape and are experiencing any of these symptoms, please see a doctor. Keep in mind, you don’t have to be a long-time user in order to develop the lung illness. New users have been affected as well.
Refraining from vaping is strongly recommended until the investigation is complete. For those who choose to vape THC, products should only be purchased from a licensed cannabis retailer. Never buy any type of e-cigarette or vaping product off the street, particularly those that contain THC. Consumers should never modify a store-bought vape product.
Get more outbreak information from the
CDC
.
Additional resources:
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The Health and Safe Neighborhood Coalition (HSNC) now has a Smoke-free Work Group!
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What -
The new Smoke-free Workgroup is a sub-committee of the Healthy and Safe Neighborhoods Coalition (HSNC). This workgroup will be tasked with working on all things related to reducing secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure in the Sutter County area. We just had our first meeting and will begin to concentrate on a couple pressing issues in our community.
Two of the primary focuses will be reducing SHS at outdoor dining areas on Plumas Street, Yuba City, as well, limiting SHS exposure in multi-united housing complexes in the Sutter County area. Policy creation, education, and technical assistance are a few of the tasks this workgroup will concentrate on.
Why -
Secondhand smoke causes 3,600 heart disease deaths and 400 cancer deaths each year in California non-smokers. Toxic SHS also has a significant impact on the health and wellbeing of many Sutter County residents. This is especially true for certain priority populations exposed to secondhand smoke, including children, elderly, those coping with chronic health issues of the heart and/or lung, as well as pets. 41,000 Americans die annually as a result of secondhand smoke exposure. Additionally, Sutter County Public Health has been approached by a member of Yuba City Council to inquire about smoke-free outdoor dining.
WHO -
Anyone is welcome to join the Smoke-Free Workgroup. We would like to have representation from multiple viewpoints in our community and from those interested in reducing dangerous secondhand smoke exposure. Our current list of invitees included but are not limited to:
• Downtown Yuba City business owners
• Regional Housing Authority
• Yuba City Councilmembers
• Downtown Business Association representative
• Adventist Health and Rideout Hospital representatives
• Multi-unit housing manager and resident representatives
• Local environmental health coalition representative
• Community members
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Lead Fearlessly
2019 North State Youth Advocacy Summit
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Sutter County Tobacco Control Program hosted the 5
th
Annual North State Youth Advocacy Summit – Lead Fearlessly on Friday, October 25
th
, 2019 at Boyd Hall. High School age youth from around the North State region attended the event to learn about coalition building, youth leadership, and advocacy.
The youth cultivated their leadership skills through games, activities and workshops and were empowered to advocate for healthy communities. The youth heard from keynote speaker Darryl Bellamy from BellamyInspires.com who guided them from fearful to fearless and helped them develop a plan to become their own hero.
If you know any youth interested in advocating for a healthy community and would like to join the Student Advocates for Sutter County (SASC) please contact the Sutter County Tobacco Control Program at 530-822-7215.
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Sutter County Public Health | Tobacco Control Program | (530) 822-7215 | 1445 Veterans Memorial Circle Yuba City, CA | SutterCounty.org
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