Santa Rosa County Tobacco-Free Coalition holds meeting

MILTON, FL– The Santa Rosa County Tobacco-Free Coalition will hold its next meeting on Thursday, February 21st, at 4 p.m. at the Santa Rosa County Health Department, 5527 Stewart Street in Milton.  Topics to be considered will include a report on the strategic plan, policy work for the upcoming year, and subcommittee assignments.

The Santa Rosa County Tobacco-Free Coalition began in September 2008 as a partnership of community members and agencies working together with a mission to reduce the prevalence of tobacco use and provide education on the dangers of tobacco abuse among children and adults in the county.  Members include: Santa Rosa County Health Department; Healthy Start of Santa Rosa County; Women, Infant and Children Program (WIC); Center for Total Women’s Health; Community Drug and Alcohol Council; West Florida Area Health Education Center; Covenant Hospice; Safe Haven; Santa Rosa County School District; Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office; Santa Rosa County School Health Program; Santa Rosa Pediatrics; University of West Florida; Students Working against Tobacco (SWAT) and AIDS Healthcare Foundation.  Any interested citizens or community groups are encouraged to attend the meeting and join the coalition.   

Cigarette waste has many detrimental effects on our environment. Check out these facts from Tobacco Free Florida:

• Cigarette     filters are made from cellulose acetate, a plastic which is technically     biodegradable. However, cigarette butts only biodegrade under conditions     described by researchers as “severe biological circumstances,”     such as when filters end up in sewage. Even in these conditions, cellulose     acetate filters are slow to disappear with the most optimistic estimate at     nine months.
• In a     recent laboratory study, one cigarette butt soaked in a liter of water     killed half of the fish exposed.
• An     economic study based on a litter audit in San Francisco, found that the annual     tobacco litter cleanup cost to be more than $5.6 million.
• Cigarette     butts discarded in parks, along sidewalks, and in street gutters miles     from the coast, inevitably make their way through storm drains, creeks and     rivers to the beach and ocean leaking dangerous chemicals into our     watershed.

For more information on the Santa Rosa County Tobacco Free Coalition, please contact Dennis Bratten at (850) 983-5200 ext.  142.