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news
Henderson appointed
to tobacco committee
By Melissa Anderson
Summer On-line Forty-Niner
California Governor
Gray Davis has appointed Dr. Alan Henderson, a Cal State Long
Beach professor in the Health Science Department, as a member
of the Tobacco Education and Research Oversight Committee.
According to Henderson,
he applied to the Committee and was appointed based on his
participation in various Tobacco Control Programs.
Henderson is one
of the eight members that Davis appointed. The board will
consist of a total of 13 members. The Speaker of the Assembly
and Senate Rules Committee will each appoint two more members
while the Superintendent of Public Instruction will appoint
one.
The fight against
tobacco is nothing new to Henderson. Aside from his job as
a professor at CSULB, and as a new member of the Tobacco Education
and Research Oversight Committee, he continues his efforts
with other tobacco control committees.
"I am still
involved as a member of the executive committee for the Robert
Wood Johnson grant foundation," Henderson said.
Henderson was also
involved in the 1998 law that was passed, which banned smoking
in bars and the workplace. According to Henderson, the tobacco
industry again had a big opposition to the law.
"The tobacco
industry spent $14 million to convince the media and public
that this would end up losing money," Henderson said.
"Since 1998 public support has only gotten stronger."
Henderson is also
a member of the scientific advisory committee of the Tobacco
Related Disease Research Program. Continuing his efforts,
he also served as president of the California division of
the American Cancer Society, as well as the chair for Yes
on Proposition 10.
"This was
the most rewarding," Henderson said. "The tobacco
industry spent about $35 million trying to fight Proposition
10. The tobacco industry tried to argue that the money wouldn't
be spent on children and schools. They were trying to confuse
the public."
Proposition 10
increases the tax on cigarettes by 50 cents. The revenue from
Proposition 10 goes into a fund to improve early childhood
development programs. The estimated revenue from 1999-2000
was approximately $690 million.
Henderson came
to the Long Beach campus in 1987 and was asked to testify
for the assembly committee that became Proposition 99.
"Twenty percent
of Proposition 99 revenue goes into tobacco education,"
Henderson said. "The department of Health is responsible
for distributing those funds."
As a member of
the Tobacco Education and Research Committee one of the obligations
will be to recommend any needed changes to the Department
of Education.
"The committee
will be responsible for providing input for strategic instruction
and on how the funds are being spent," Henderson said.
"We will provide advice and oversight to the Department
of Education."
The committee will
meet four times a year, but according to Henderson, there
is a lot of work that needs to get done in between the meetings.
"It is kind
of like a second job," Henderson said.
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