As always, big tobacco has its eye on new cigarette-buying customers: our children. The Federal Trade Commission reports that each year, big tobacco spends $12.8 billion, more than $35 million a day, to market its deadly and addictive products. After all, big tobacco needs to replace the 400,000 U.S. smokers who die each year with new replacement customers.

New York has done a good job shielding our children from big tobacco. While most states have seen a slowing of youth smoking declines, New York's rates have continued to decline steadily. The rate of smoking among New York high school students went down from 32.9 percent in 1997 to $13.8 percent in 2007. Current smoking among New York high school students has decreased by 58 percent since 1997.

The Federal Trade Commission recently released its reports on cigarette and smokeless tobacco sales, advertising and promotion. In 2006, in New York state alone, big tobacco spent $429.6 million to hawk its products, an increase of 20.4 percent from the 1998 baseline. If the tobacco industry can spend more than $1 million a day in New York state to peddle its products, can't the state spend more than the current $68 million a year to protect our kids from big tobacco?

Last year, the New York tobacco-control program was cut by 20 percent. This cut far exceeds that experienced by most state programs and was significantly larger than the across-the-board budget cuts applied since the beginning of the state's fiscal crisis.

Big tobacco is spending more to market its products in New York state, and New York state is spending less to protect our kids from the tobacco industry. This is a deadly combination that will likely erode the excellent progress made in youth smoking over the past decade.

The Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids estimates that the budget cut imposed on the state's tobacco- control program last year will result in 15,980 New York kids growing up to become addicted adult smokers, and increased future health-care expenditures to be $279.6 million, of which $77.8 million will be paid for by the state Medicaid program. These are human and financial increases that are costly and preventable.

We want to increase the number of kids who don't even start to smoke. We can do this with continued funding for smoking prevention and cessation. For more information, contact Sarah Kraemer at 762-8313.

SARAH KRAEMER

Program coordinator,

Reality Check

Catholic Charities of Fulton & Montgomery Counties

Johnstown