American Lung Association critiques Oklahoma, other states on tobacco prevention

Sward said tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S.

And these measures are important because they're evidence-based models that are proven to help states reduce the number of people who smoke, she said.

“All of them have been proven to reduce smoking rates, and that is why the tobacco industry doesn't want to see any of them happen” “we're looking at meaningful items that will make a big difference in reducing tobacco use and the death and disease caused by tobacco use in the united states and in Oklahoma, and it's really up to all of our elected officials and other policymakers to summon the political will, to take us off this reckless money trail.”

The National Institute on Money in State Politics released a report “Big Tobacco Wins Tax Battles” on Wednesday simultaneously with the American Lung Association's report.

The institute is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that focuses on campaign money in state-level elections and public policy in each state in the United States.

In its report, the institute reported that tobacco donors contributed about $54 million in 2011 to 2012 to state-level candidates, political parties and ballot measure campaigns, the second-highest since 2005 to 2006, when that number totaled $96.6 million.

About 88 percent of that money went to campaigns in California. Four of the largest tobacco manufacturers, including Philip Morris USA, Reynolds American Inc., U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co. and Altria, gave more than half of the money, or $47.4 million, of all the tobacco money given to state campaigns, according to the report.

The report did not focus much on Oklahoma, but did report that from 2011 to 2012, the tobacco industry contributed $23,600 to candidates in Oklahoma. Meanwhile, health advocates contributed $1,250, according to the report.