by Mike Ferguson

(St. Charles, MO) – Everyone knows that smoking is a bad idea. It’s unhealthy, it’s expensive and, frankly, it stinks.

So why do so many still do it and why do so many young people still start the addiction every day?

According to Matt Kuhlenbeck from the Missouri Foundation for Health, there is no one answer. The reasons people start lighting up are as individual as the people themselves.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services says the Show Me State has the ninth-highest smoking rate in the nation. About a quarter of adults and 18% of high school students light up.

When it comes to convincing young people to stay away from tobacco, though, sometimes the best approach is to go beyond the health warnings. Kuhlenbeck thinks letting teens know they are a financial target for tobacco companies is a start. That’s the empowerment idea behind a program called “Smokebusters” being used in many Missouri schools.

“How are they being manipulated to look at tobacco in a way that it’s attractive? So, how are advertising documents and other things being designed to make tobacco look attractive?

“These programs are designed to empower youth to make these decisions on their own, provide them with the tools and resources and understanding to know, one, what the health issues are…but then also understand how marketing is used to influence behavior.”

In other words, at an age where telling someone not to try something often makes them want to try it out of youthful rebellion, let them in on the fact that tobacco companies are trying to tell them to start smoking. Maybe they’ll push back the same way.

Much of the Smokebusters program is youth-driven.

It’s a program for those in the eighth through eleventh grades and focuses on critical thinking skills as much as on the science of tobacco and health.

For adults already hooked on tobacco who want to quit: there’s help available.

While Kuhlenbeck recommends starting with your doctor, many free or inexpensive resources are available. Those options include the 1-800-QUIT-NOW hotline and www.BecomeAnEx.org, which is an online community of people who are trying to stop the tobacco habit.

It’s not too late to stop, no matter how long you’ve been puffing away on cigarettes or cigars. According to Kuhlenbeck, “When you quit smoking, you immediately begin to change the physical aspects of what’s happening to you. Within six months, you will be a different person physically as a result. ”

One of the newest nicotine products on the market may also be one of the most confusing ones right now.

They are called “electronic cigarettes” and they do not have any tobacco in them. The “e-cigs” deliver nicotine through heating a liquid that turns to vapor and is then inhaled the way a regular cigarette is smoked.

Cynthia Cabrera is the Executive Director of the Smoke Free Alternatives Trades Association, which represents e-cig makers and retailers. To her, the difference means they are not in the same category of products. “Vaping”, she says, is not just another way of smoking and should not be treated like a tobacco issue.

Some consumer and health advocates have expressed concern that electronic cigarettes, while not delivering the carcinogens that tobacco products contain, could lead people into a nicotine addiction that might result in smoking later.

Cabrera says that’s not what e-cigs are for.

“They’re not designed to lure nonsmokers. There’s no interest for nonsmokers. What this is, is an adult alternative for people who want to get their nicotine fix, their hit, but they don’t want to do it with a traditional tobacco, combustible cigarette.”

In fact, Cabrera says, some electronic cigarettes don’t contain nicotine at all.

While she is careful to say that e-cigs are not meant to be a smoking replacement program, she does point out what consumers are not getting when choosing them over regular cigarettes.

“Since they don’t contain tobacco they also don’t contain hundreds, up to thousands, of different chemicals that can be found in tobacco.”

She says there’s another benefit to smokers trying an electronic cigarette instead of a tobacco one: there’s no smoke smell. The vapor doesn’t have an odor and it dissipates in about 20 seconds after being breathed out.

In that sense, it’s safer than a regular cigarette because there is no secondhand smoke to impact everyone else. As far as the impact on the smoker (or person who is “vaping” in this case) goes, Cabrera points out that there’s not enough research to make claims one way or the other, other than to acknowledge that the tobacco and related carcinogens are not present in them.

Still, the health debate with e-cigs involves the same people as it does with tobacco, according to Cabrera.

“This is a product that’s marketed to current smokers. People who are non smokers are not interested in this product.”

On the web:

Missouri Foundation for Health: www.MFFH.org

Smokebusters: http://www.casemo.org/smokebusters/

Smoke Free Alternatives Trades Association: http://www.sfata.org/

Advocacy Groups Are Already Working to Shape Tax, Spending and Health Care Decisions in 2014

by Mike Ferguson

(St. Charles, MO) – There’s an off season in baseball. There’s an off season in football. There’s an off season in soccer and basketball as well. Athletes in the big leagues of these respective sports don’t take it easy once the season ends: they immediately start conditioning and planning for the next season.

That’s the same approach lawmakers and advocacy groups take to politics in Missouri.

The regular legislative session and the annual veto session are in the record books for 2013. Nothing more will be done to change our laws or our state budget this year. That doesn’t mean, though, that political work is taking a break.

The politicking and public relations work surrounding the ideas that haven’t even been officially proposed for 2014 yet is well underway.

After Republicans lost their bid to reduce personal and business taxes via Governor Jay Nixon’s veto pen, they already say some form of tax cuts will be on the agenda next year. Whatever plan the GOP proposes will likely be something that addresses or eliminates the concerns that led to some Representatives jumping ship when it came time to override the Governor’s veto.

What was called – by both sides – a mistake in the bill’s language would have raised taxes on prescription drugs. That would have hit Missouri’s senior citizens the hardest. While Republicans pledged to fix the confusion in January, there was enough concern to allow Nixon’s veto to stand.

On “Missouri Viewpoints”, one of the plan’s loudest opponents says she understands that another tax cut plan is on the way. This time, Amy Blouin hopes everyone has a say in shaping what will eventually come to the Legislature for a vote.

“There definitely is room for compromise. The issue is how you pay for it?

“We don’t want to see public services reduced, education reduced further than it already has been.”

Blouin is the Executive Director of the Missouri Budget Project, which opposed the tax cut bill officially known at HB 253. Defeating the Republicans’ second swing at a tax cut plan may be tougher in 2014, so Blouin at least hopes those on more of the political left can be a part of shaping that plan.

“We have to be careful about how we put together a bill, so that it doesn’t hurt middle income Missourians and low income Missourians. You want to make sure that the quality of life in Missouri is maintained and that we’re investing in the education and the infrastructure that we need, and businesses need, in order to thrive.”

Blouin and many Democrats said a reduction in taxes would result in reduced funding for social services and key government programs, including education and highways.

Republicans say making the state more friendly to business through lower taxes would result in economic growth by attracting businesses from other states.
During the program’s interview, Blouin indicated that she and her organization would be more open to personal income tax reductions if they target the low and middle income.

Associated Industries of Missouri’s Ray McCarty wants to see the tax cuts for everyone – like what was proposed this year.

To McCarty, there’s a sense of urgency on the issue because of how aggressive at least one border state has become in courting businesses through tax incentives and tax breaks.

“If we do nothing, if we continue with our tax policy the way it is, we are just asking for those S-corporations and those job creators in the economy to move to Kansas, especially if they are in the Kansas City area and it’s a very easy move for them.”

McCarty and AIM were involved in proposing the 2013 tax cut plan to lawmakers. He says the 2014 plan will address concerns that were part of HB 253’s demise.

“We’ll look at how we pay for those tax credits, doing them out of the growth in state revenues as we had tried to do with the bill before. I think we’ll refine that mechanism a little bit and make sure that we’re protecting the funding for the vital services in the state of Missouri and, at the same time, we’re making Missouri a more competitive place to do business.”

In other words, a business tax cut is likely to be proposed and debated again.

While lawmakers don’t report for political duty until January, their ears will be bent with efforts to shape their views and eventually their vote on the state’s tax policy now. Amy Blouin, Ray McCarty and dozens of advocacy groups all over the philosophical spectrum will make sure that political off season in Missouri remains a busy time.

On the web:

Missouri Budget Project: www.MOBudget.org
Associated Industries of Missouri: www.AIMO.com

(St. Charles, MO) – The stereotype of “Old Farmer Brown” in his overalls, cap and with some straw sticking out of his mouth does not describe the farmers of today.

Today’s farmer in Missouri and across the nation is tech savvy, using a GPS system to get maximum use of the land. He’s also business savvy, navigating international markets to sell his products.

He’s also a pseudo lawyer and accountant rolled into one; that’s a skill needed to understand the complex government regulations and incentive programs that are part of agriculture today.

A potential problem for agriculture and the entire nation is the fact that fewer young people are getting into farming as a career. In fact, the average farmer in America would be retired or close to it in most other industries.

While technology and improved equipment allow Missouri’s farmers to work more efficiently, the long term trend has some concerned.

Agriculture is one of the pillars of Missouri’s economy and impacts every person in the state. A smooth transition from one generation to the next is important to productivity.

On “Missouri Viewpoints”, The Missouri Farm Bureau’s Kelly Smith says it’s harder to convince young people to give agriculture a look for a career.

“The number one issue probably there is just the cost of getting into farming. The price of farm land continues to escalate…and it’s not uncommon for an acre of row crop ground to [cost] $8,000 an acre. So, for every one hundred acres of crop ground, that’s $800,000 of investment.”

That’s not as much of a barrier when a father is handing down land to a son or daughter but it can be insurmountable for those who want to be a first generation farmer in 2013.

While the cost is going up, better technology and bioscience allows for greater productivity from farm land. According to Smith, that’s needed because demand for US-based agriculture continues to grow.

“One farmer used to feed about twenty people in the 1940’s and, today, one farmer feeds 154 people.”

Missouri, in agriculture terms, is generally a livestock state. While many vegetables and fruits are grown here, Show Me State farmers produce large amounts of beef, pork, poultry and eggs that are sold in grocery stores around the nation every day.

Smith believes farmers will continue to meet the need, even if there are fewer farmers. That may mean fewer farms that are larger than they are now because of a decreasing supply of farmers. That’s a mindset of necessity, not necessarily the ideal trend for the state or the nation.

Still, there’s more to agriculture than just working in the fields and that means there’s a need for today’s high school and college students to consider some sector of the industry, according to Steven Rogers.

“There may be two percent of our population that’s involved in production. [You may ask] how can that be our number one industry? Well, there are a lot more components to that.”
Rogers is with the Agriculture Education program of Missouri’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

While there are still concerns about the number of today’s students seriously looking at going in the fields tomorrow, Rogers says there is some positive news in recent years for agriculture.

“In ag education in the State of Missouri, we have about 26,700 students enrolled and that number has gone up steadily.”

Agriculture education is now available in over 330 high schools and just over half of those are at least considering an agriculture-based career or an agriculture-based higher education.

Many of those students are from current farm families but not all of them will stay in the family business. Rogers says, like everyone else, farmers’ kids consider the bottom line when picking a career to pursue.

“It has to be profitable, too…if we can find a way to continue to make agriculture production profitable, then we’ll continue to recruit students into the field.”

Profit isn’t the only motivation that appeals to today’s student generation. Rogers says there’s an altruistic appeal as well.

“We’ve got to feed all this population on this limited land. That’s a neat challenge. For a lot of our students, they relish that opportunity to figure out ‘how am I going to solve this problem of making this land profitable and productive in feeding the world’.”

Both Smith and Rogers agree that another aspect of farming needs to be put front and center: the farming lifestyle. In Missouri’s rural areas, farming remains the backbone of the community both economically and culturally.

While the reach of today’s farms is around the world instead of around the county and the technology to get the food from the farm has changed, the lifestyle that reared generations of Missourians still holds on to its roots in more ways than one.

On The Web:
Missouri Farm Bureau: http://www.mofb.org/
Missouri’s Agriculture Education Program: http://dese.mo.gov/ccr/ag/