More smoke in S.F. than in other urban counties
Damian Dovarganes / APTobacco educator and motivational speaker Debi Austin comments on the negative effects of tobacco during promotions for a series of anti-tobacco ads.More San Francisco adults smoke than those in most other urban and suburban counties in California, according to data on smoking rates released by state health officials Monday.
The numbers, which are based on 2008 data and for the first time include statistics from every county, show that adult smoking rates statewide have dropped 42 percent since 1988 to the lowest levels ever - 13.1 percent. That makes California second to Utah, which has the country's fewest smokers per capita.
Counties that are more urban and suburban tend to have significantly lower smoking rates than rural areas. Exceptions in California include San Francisco, an urban county, and Sacramento, home of the state Capitol and outlying suburbs.
Densely populated counties had an average adult smoking rate of 10.9 percent, compared with 13.5 percent in San Francisco and 14 percent in Sacramento.
"We're like 40 percent higher than L.A., which is very surprising," said Dr. Stanton Glantz, a professor of medicine and director of UCSF's Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education. Los Angeles had a smoking prevalence of 10.4 percent.
San Francisco in 2008 became the first city in the country to ban tobacco sales in drug stores, and this year voted to extend the ban to include big-box stores and supermarkets with on-site pharmacies. Supervisors in March passed a law that prohibits people from smoking in outdoor restaurants. That law went into effect in early November.
Health experts speculated on the reason for San Francisco's higher smoking level, saying that the city tends to have a large number of young people without children. Another contributing factor may be the high rate of smoking among gays and lesbians.
A 2004 state survey found that 30 percent of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people smoke, more than twice the California average. The study found 32.5 percent of lesbians smoked - nearly three times the average for women in California.
"What we do know is there is a large LGBT population in San Francisco ... and what's clearly demonstrated by the study is that the LGBT community smokes at significantly higher rates," said Bob Gordon, project director of the California LGBT Tobacco Education Partnership in San Francisco.
Gordon said tobacco companies have long targeted gay men and lesbians in advertising. In addition, the bar scene - using cigarettes as a way of meeting people - and feeling disenfranchised may contribute to higher rates, he said.
The state figures released Monday also show the higher rates of smoking in major ethnic groups - Asian/Pacific Islanders, Latinos and African Americans - as well as those in lower socioeconomic levels.
But Dr. Mark Horton, director of the California Department of Public Health, was encouraged that these ethnic groups showed similar rates of decline as the state average - a 42 percent decline in smoking since 1988 for Asian/Pacific Islanders and a 41 percent drop for African Americans and Latinos.
The state health department is also starting a series of new anti-tobacco television ads. Some of the ads feature Debi Austin, who lost her vocal chords to cancer of the larynx and began in 1996 to be featured in anti-smoking campaigns. The new ads will air in January.
UCSF's Glantz said he believes smoking can be eliminated in as little as three to five years with increased efforts to make smoking a socially unacceptable behavior. "The end is in sight on this if the political will is there to do it," he said.
Smoking statistics: For more information from the Department of Public Health, go to www.cdph.ca.gov.
Source: California Tobacco Survey 2008
E-mail Victoria Colliver at vcolliver@sfchronicle.com.This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle
Related Topics: Gay community, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Tobacco smoking, Stanton Glantz, African American, Cigarette, University of California, San Francisco, Gay, List of counties in California
More smoke in S.F. than in other urban countiesMore San Francisco adults smoke than those in most other urban and suburban counties in California, according to data on smoking rates released by state health officials Monday. The numbers, which are based on 2008 data...
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