Lung association gives Yuba, Sutter, Colusa counties poor grades on report cards

Meanwhile state sees overall success

Despite statewide success, local counties received mostly failing grades in an annual American Lung Association tobacco study. But local officials said they’re working to make improvements.

The Lung Association in California released the “State of Tobacco Control Report,” which assigns grades to 482 cities and 58 counties in California on tobacco control policies. The association noted tobacco use is the nation’s leading cause of preventable death and disease, taking an estimated 480,000 lives per year.

“Policies like tobacco retail licensing are effective in reducing the use of youth access to tobacco products, which protects youth from embarking on a lifetime of nicotine addiction,” said Stephanie Frazier, association advocacy manager for Northern California. “Colusa, Yuba and Sutter counties are all working on tobacco retail policies.”

She said as companies create new tobacco-related products, policies can help control access and sale of tobacco to young people.

“These policies are necessary to assist parents and teachers as they work together to educate youth on the dangers of tobacco use, especially e-cigarette use, which was labeled as an epidemic by FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb and U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams,” she said. “It is up to the city council and board of supervisors in these counties to pass policies that protect the youth in Colusa, Yuba and Sutter from this epidemic.”

Sutter County and the cities within its boundaries received low grades, but Sutter County Public Health and elected officials enacted new policies last year.

“Yuba City and Live Oak both received an F grade from the American Lung Association and Sutter County unincorporated improved its grade from an F to a D due to the Sutter County Board of Supervisors taking bold action to protect individuals from secondhand smoke,” according to a press release from Tammy Andersen, project director for the Sutter County Tobacco Control Program. “In 2018, the board enacted the smoke and tobacco free campuses policy and updated the ‘Prohibition of Smoking in Unenclosed Places’ ordinance.”