Save the Date — American Legacy Foundation On Monday, March 12, 2007, the American Legacy Foundation annual "Honors" gala and fundraising dinner will pay tribute to individuals from various fields whose contributions have strengthened and enhanced the foundation's mission to build a world where young people reject tobacco and anyone can quit.

Message From The President Dear Colleague, On Jan. 18, the Harvard School of Public Health released a study confirming that, since 1997, levels of the addictive agent nicotine have increased in cigarettes. This news comes despite the fact that in 1998, Big Tobacco reached a Master Settlement Agreement with 46 states and five U.S. territories — an agreement with the central purpose to reduce smoking in the United States. Legacy joined the National Cancer Institute in funding this research, and expanded study of findings first released in August of last year by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Both studies show that nicotine levels in seven brand families — including Marlboro, Newport and Camel cigarettes — have increased significantly between 1997 and 2005. News of nicotine increases in these brands is particularly troubling, since we know these brands are popular favorites with American youth who smoke. Read Article ...    EXsm Campaign Launches in Baltimore, Md. EXsm, a new campaign to give smokers who want to quit the tools they need to be successful, launched this month in Baltimore, Md. The Baltimore campaign is the fourth and final test market where EX will run over the next six months. Additional test markets include Buffalo, N.Y., San Antonio, Texas, and Grand Rapids, Mich. EX aims to change the way smokers feel about the difficult process of quitting smoking, and points them to valuable resources to guide their quit attempts. Most smokers in America — 70 percent — want to quit, but in 2000, only about five percent were successful in quitting long-term. EX steers away from preaching to smokers about the reasons for quitting and instead empowers them with free resources and methods that have been proven to increase smokers' chances of quitting successfully. Read Article ...    To Protect Teens, U.S. Adults Back New R-Rating for Films With Tobacco Research shows that one-third to one-half of youth smoking initiation can be attributed to movie smoking, and the CDC has repeatedly cited on-screen tobacco as an important reason why the historical decline in teen smoking has stalled. This month, a new study shows that public opinion agrees. Eighty-one percent of adults in the United States agree that adolescents are more likely to smoke if they watch actors smoke in movies, and 70 percent back a new R-rating for all movies with tobacco, according to the latest Social Climate Survey of Tobacco Control, an annual poll of public attitudes about tobacco control policies. The American Medical Association (AMA) Alliance and researchers from Mississippi State University's Social Science Research Center made the announcement during the AMA's National Advocacy Conference in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 12. Read Article ...    Tracy Reese and American Legacy Foundation® Pave the Runway for Smoking Cessation For years, the tobacco industry has targeted women with images of beautiful, fashionable models in their advertising. Cigarette smoking still permeates the fashion world today, but one designer is making a stand against it. As a non-smoker, Tracey Reese has seen the incredible impact smoking has had on the fashion industry and urges her models not to smoke backstage. She believes that cigarettes should not be seen as a sexy accessory and has a mission to change that misperception and build up confidence in young women so they do not cave into peer pressure or other social influences to smoke. Read Article ...    Employer-sponsored Tobacco Cessation Programs are Inexpensive and Effective New research funded by the American Legacy Foundation® shows that providing smoking cessation programs is inexpensive and cost-effective for employers. The study, conducted by the actuarial consulting firm Milliman, Inc., shows that employers can provide smoking cessation programs for less than five cents per member per month for a structured telephonic "Quit Line" program. A wide range of effective programs are available, with more comprehensive cessation coverages that include therapy and selected pharmaceuticals costing from 28 to 45 cents per member per month — less than $1 per employee per month. Legacy believes that providing this benefit is the right thing to do as our nation creates more and more smokefree workplaces, campuses and public spaces. Read Article ...