The air in Philadelphia is better than it was 25 years ago, according to Health Commissioner Tom Farley. He testified that from having “Severe non-attainment” of EPA standards on polluting chemicals, it now complies with all except for Ozone, where it still falls short of the standard.
“This progress has happened even as the national standards for attainment have become more stringent,” he said.
By Pat Loeb
Health Commissioner Tom Farley will oppose the bill. He doesn’t buy the rationale.
“There was a Wawa that opened up that was above the cap, and so they didn’t get a permit. And I went and visited it and the store was absolutely thriving,” he said. “It was packed with customers and (had) a long line at the cash registers, so these stores can do quite well without selling the No. 1 cause of death in Philadelphia.”
Farley noted that cigarette sales total only a fraction of the business of stores with permits, and the bill would have a hugely negative health impact, especially in low-income neighborhoods where the density of cigarette sales is highest.
By Pat Loeb
On Wednesday, Council voted against a bill that aimed to reverse some of those regulations. The measure would have allowed a tobacco retail permit to be transferred to a new owner even if a store was near a school or exceeded the cap on the number of retailers in the area.
“We’re grateful that the City Council supported the Board of Health’s action to protect Philadelphia’s children from the marketing of the nation’s biggest killer, tobacco,” said Health Commissioner Thomas Farley.
The goal of the original regulations was to curb youth smoking, a particularly big problem for Philadelphia, where more than a quarter of youths use tobacco. Although rates of cigarette smoking have dropped here as in much of the country, rates of cigar and e-cigarette use are climbing.
By Aneri Pattani
On the other side were numerous health organizations, parents and Health Commissioner Tom Farley, who said the rule is already working to reduce the number of cigarette retailers in low-income neighborhoods, where there are three times as many tobacco sellers as in other neighborhoods.
“Researchers have shown that children living in neighborhoods with more tobacco sellers are significantly more likely to start smoking, and adult smokers in those neighborhoods are less likely to quit,” Farley said.
By Pat Loeb
Research shows that people of lower income are more likely to live in neighborhoods with high rates of tobacco retailers. In Philadelphia, which has the highest rate of adult smokersamong the nation’s 10 largest cities, almost half of all tobacco retailers are located in low-income communities, according to the city Department of Public Health.
http://www2.philly.com/health/smoking-cigarettes-quitting-black-hispanic-20181203.html
By Aneri Pattani
The success of these efforts will depend on the enforcement of these regulations, which would fall to the Department of Public Health.
The impact of these bills will probably not be huge; in fact, both bills are rather innovative and so far untested. But when people are dying daily, Council should signal it’s taking it seriously by exploring other legislative solutions on such issues as expanding access to treatment and regulation of recovery houses. Enacting these two bills would be a first step.
By Inquirer Editorial Board
Overdose deaths between April and June rose by about 11 percent compared with the previous two quarters.
“This still represents a kind of leveling-off in opioid-related fatalities over the last three quarters,” said Kendra Viner, manager of the Philadelphia Health Department’s opioid surveillance program. “The bad news is that we’re not seeing the decline in fatalities we’d really like to see. And if this trend continues, we’ll probably end 2018 with maybe just under the total number of fatalities that we saw in 2017.”
By Aubrey Whelan
“We’re trying to make carrying Narcan, unfortunately, just a normal part of what people do,” city Health Commissioner Thomas Farley told me. He said the department still fields complaints from customers who can’t find it on the shelves of pharmacies.
By Mike Newall
“For too long, flavored cigars and menthol cigarettes have been the on-ramp to smoking for teenagers in Philadelphia. Prohibiting these flavored products would be a major advance in the battle against the nation’s biggest killer – tobacco,” said Philadelphia Health Commissioner Thomas Farley. “We also support FDA’s proposed actions to protect teens from the marketing of flavored e-cigarettes.”
By Aneri Pattani
Recognizing ongoing access issues, a Philadelphia City Council committee on Tuesday recommended a bill that would require pharmacies to have at least one naloxone pack (with two doses) in stock. Council is expected to vote on the measure next week.
“We did a survey and found 25 percent of pharmacies don’t have it,” city Health Commissioner Thomas Farley said. “We want 100 percent to have it on hand.”
By Marie McCullough
To make the drug even more easily available, a City Council committee approved a bill mandating that all pharmacies in Philadelphia stock it. Recent studies show that fewer than half of city pharmacies do carry it.
The legislation is part of the city’s promotion and distribution of naloxone. Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley said that, since June of 2017, his department has given out more than 57,000 doses of Narcan to people in a position to administer it.
By Nina Feldman
Philadelphia Health Commissioner Tom Farley said the company’s actions don’t go far enough. “Juul is making these changes because it is under pressure from the FDA. But if they were serious about protecting kids, they would discontinue all of their flavorings and target their marketing specifically to adult smokers who want to quit,” Farley said in a statement.
http://www2.philly.com/philly/health/juul-stop-selling-flavored-ecigarette-vaping-20181113.html
By Aneri Pattani
Over the course of one year, six Facebook advertising campaigns were developed to direct adolescents to the 3forME Facebookpage and website. Adolescents with a Facebook account who self-identified as 13-18 years of age and living in Philadelphia were prioritized to receive advertisements. Advertisements, which ran for two-week periods, were displayed on the right side of the Facebook login page and varied by themes, images, and text, each linking to HPV immunization. Additionally, we sent reminder-recall letters to adolescents who were due for HPV vaccine at two city health centers where we held weekly vaccine clinics.
By Salini Mohanty
The Collected Works of Jim Garrow 