Claremont, La Verne And Most Of SoCal Lags In State Of Tobacco Report

LA VERNE, CA — Think people don't smoke in California anymore? Think again.

While seven area cities received an "A" grade: Baldwin Park, Compton, Glendale, Huntington Park, Manhattan Beach, Pasadena and Santa Monica, Los Angeles maintained a "C" grade Wednesday in the latest American Lung Association report.

Arcadia received a "D" grade, while the cities of Claremont, Covina, Diamond Bar, Glendora, La Verne, and Walnut received "F" grades along with dozens of other Los Angeles cities.

In Orange County, "F" grades were given to the cities of Aliso Viejo, Anaheim, Costa Mesa, Dana Point, Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Laguna Beach, Laguna Niguel, Lake Forest, Los Alamitos, Mission Viejo, Newport Beach, Rancho Santa Margarita, San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano, Seal Beach and Yorba Linda.

The only cities in Orange County which scored higher than "F" were the cities of Laguna Hills, Laguna Woods and Santa Ana, all of which earned a "C" grade.

Factors which contributed to those low scores include smoke-free outdoor air, housing, reductions of sales of tobacco products in retail stores, and second hand smoke.

The report "State of Tobacco Control 2016--California Local Grades" ranked California communities on their efforts to reduce tobacco use and prevent exposure to secondhand smoke.

The California Local Grades report noted that the city did not pass any new tobacco-control policies in 2016.

"We are grateful to the many cities in the Los Angeles region who have tackled the issue of tobacco in their communities head on," said Dr. Donald Larsen, chair of the American Lung Association in California-Los Angeles Leadership Board. "But more must be done, especially in the city of Los Angeles, home to millions of people. Tobacco-related illnesses remain the single most preventable cause of disease and death in California and we urge communities to institute policies to reduce smoking rates and exposure to secondhand smoke, and to protect our children from a lifetime of addiction."

The report gave particular praise to El Monte, which jumped from an "F" grade last year to a "B" this year.

Also noted in the report were Monrovia, which passed an ordinance banning smoking at city parks, including e-cigarettes, and West Hollywood, which passed stepped-up regulations on tobacco retailers.

While the city of Los Angeles received an overall "C" grade, it was rated an "F" in its efforts to provide smoke-free housing, but scored an "A" for efforts to reduce tobacco sales.

Read the full ALA report here.

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