Last week the American Lung Association flunked North Carolina in its yearly State of Tobacco Control report — giving the state nearly all Fs in categories that measure its support for anti-smoking initiatives.

The fact that 2007’s report shows little improvement from the ALA’s findings in 2006 is disturbing — especially when you consider that the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has cited cancer as the leading cause of death in this state.

North Carolina has a rich history of tobacco production, which extends into the modern marketplace, where the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services measures the state’s tobacco economic impact on the American gross national product as more than $7 billion. The question to consider, however, when judging the worth of these monstrous tobacco-generated revenues, is whether receiving this money is worth enduring the ravaging destructive effects smoking has on the North Carolina populous.

Although our economic intake from tobacco production is staggering, what is equally offsetting is the monetary toll smoking has cost North Carolina over the years. The ALA estimates that individuals in North Carolina pay a combined annual average of $5.03 billion on smoking-attributable health care expenditures — including lost wages and benefits from disability and premature death

The ALA reports that each year there are 11,902 smoking attributable deaths in this state. This includes 3,877 smoking attributable deaths for lung cancer and 2,962 from respiratory diseases such as emphysema, bronchitis and chronic airway obstruction.

It is an upsetting revelation to contemplate that while state legislators continue to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into cancer research programs they still resist supporting anti-smoking initiatives. Officials seem completely deaf to reports from the National Cancer Institute that say cigarette smoking causes 87 percent of all lung cancer deaths and is responsible for most cancers of the larynx, oral cavity, pharynx, esophagus and bladder.

The ALA’s report should be a wake-up call for the people of North Carolina to the dangers of relaying on a dangerous commodity like tobacco. Although this crop has helped our state to flourish, it is time we look to the future and develop a means to sustain ourselves that ensures the good health and safety of our friends and loved ones.

Change on this issue needs to come from the ground up. Profits from the sale of tobacco will unavoidably continue to decline in the foreseeable future and North Carolina citizens need to recognize this trend and turn to more sustainable agricultural produce.

Obviously change in our state isn’t something that can happen overnight. Nevertheless, as we make decisions now that will affect our potential economic prospects, we need to keep in mind these scientific studies and their implications on the future of tobacco production in America.

Our University, as one of the most prominent agricultural science institutions in the nation, has the opportunity to lead the way to good health and economic vitality for our state. We can blaze a path by working on viable alternatives to tobacco and thus send a message to our government representatives that last year’s ALA failure is not something we want to repeat ever again.

Send Zachary your grade for the state’s tobacco policy at viewpoint@technicianonline.com.