Loma Linda Gets High Marks in Annual American Lung Association Study

The American Lung Association delivered some good news with the release of its annual State of Tobacco Control 2012, a review on how the country is doing on tobacco control.

Once again, the city was awarded the highest grade in San Bernardino County, earning an overall grade of “B.”

The tobacco control report is released annually, providing grades to the federal government and all 50 states and the District of Columbia. It also grades individual cities. Grades are based on four key tobacco control areas: tobacco control and prevention spending, smoke free air, cigarette tax and cessation coverage.

Loma Linda got high marks for restricting smoking in indoor and outdoor areas but it got an F in the “Reducing Sales of Tobacco Products” category. The city does have one tobacco business right next to a pharmacy in the Stater Bros. shopping center on Barton Road.

Dr. Rhodes Rigsby, Loma Linda’s mayor, said he was on the American Lung Association’s Inland board for about 15 years and association’s California board for about 15 years.

“We’re very concerned about second hand smoke, smoke exposure and particulate emissions from diesel,” Rigsby said referring to the annual report.

“And Loma Linda is a little bit protected from that because we’ve got this freeway on the north side, but the winds tend to blow east and west,” Rigsby said. “So we are protected for the most part from the huge amounts of diesel exhaust that you get in places like San Bernardino, especially in places like the railroad yards.”

Some of the reasons the city is healthy is by good fortune, others may be due to the efforts of the city.

Loma Linda’s City Council has done what it can to keep those in the city from being exposed to second-hand smoke, passing an ordinance that prohibits smoking in most public areas of the city. People can smoke in their homes.

“Whether that has had a strong effect on people smoking in public places, I don’t know,” Rigsby said. “We don’t aggressively enforce it, but we took a stand.”

In the county, the only other grade above a “B” was a “D” awarded to Adelanto and Rancho Cucamonga. The report is highly critical of the state’s progress on tobacco control efforts.

“Once a national leader in tobacco control policies, California now earns mixed results,” according to the report. “While California earned an A for smoke free air policies, the state receives an F for failing to adequately fund tobacco prevention and control programs, another F for poor coverage of smoking cessation treatments and services, and a D for its low cigarette tax. Among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, California now ranks 33rd for its $.87 per pack tax, far below the national average of $1.46.”