About New Jersey GASP: Services and Programs

Services and Programs

Research: New Jersey GASP researched political contributions and lobbying in New Jersey by the tobacco industry during the period 1982-1995. The data, analyzed by the Institute for Health Policy Studies of the University of California School of Medicine, showed the tobacco industry was the number one contributor to New Jersey legislators. New Jersey GASP also assisted the League of Women Voters with its study of the influence of the tobacco industry in the legislative process in Trenton.

Senator Lautenberg asked New Jersey GASP to conduct a compliance check for him and the media. Staff arranged for teen volunteers and health officers to take the Senator and the media to sites in Maplewood and Cranford, to see if the law against selling tobacco to minors was being obeyed. The results -- 100% of the sites sold to the children, even when the Senator was present -- garnered good press coverage.

These two examples are typical of the research projects conducted by New Jersey GASP -- research that focuses on the root causes of the tobacco problem and that generates good media coverage.

Education and Publications: "Increasing awareness of the problem" is a phrase that draws Bronx cheers at New Jersey GASP. We measure the success of education in social and political change: smokefree policies created, laws passed, tobacco industry hijinks revealed.

For instance, New Jersey GASP has published lists of smokefree workplaces, restaurants, malls, and airports. People need reassurance that the sky won't fall down if it isn't held up by tobacco smoke, that other institutions have gone smokefree and prospered. This education and these publications have gone hand-in-hand with assistance, encouragement, even nudging where necessary.

New Jersey GASP's 100% Smokefree Dining in New Jersey, though labor-intensive to produce, is a much-valued resource. The directory is sent to New Jersey GASP members, every daily and weekly newspaper serving the state, restaurant reviewers, hundreds of members of the public who request it, all New Jersey legislators, all health officers, and the listed restaurants. Other organizations also distribute the guide. Updates are produced regularly and the listings are also on our website.

New Jersey GASP has created Smokefree Dining Is Best, which gives the information proprietors need, and The Smart Restaurateur, a "newsletter" which gives the success stories of diverse smokefree restaurants. New Jersey GASP also bolsters smokefree restaurants by providing marketing advice, giving them free signs about the policy, doing statewide press releases on smokefree dining, and supplying artwork about the smokefree policy that restaurants can drop into their advertising. The effectiveness of these programs is demonstrated by the growth of smokefree restaurants: from 140 totally smokefree restaurants in summer 1993 to approximately 1,000 in summer 1999.

In 1985 New Jersey GASP published Toward a Smokefree Workplace, probably the nation's first how-to manual for employers. It helped many employers establish smokefree policies, demand was great, and a second edition followed in 1986. New information soon required a more up-to-date publication, so in 1991 New Jersey GASP's Executive Director co-authored On the Air, published by the American Lung Association. New Jersey GASP's newest manual, Smokefree Air Everywhere (first edition, 1997), a 115-page book, looks beyond the workplace and has special sections for schools, governments, restaurants, landlords, and others. Health and business leaders around the nation have praised the new book.

State Laws on Tobacco in New Jersey is a comprehensible and comprehensive digest of all state legislation on tobacco. Citizens, the media, legislators, and government officials all depend on this New Jersey GASP publication. Local Laws on Tobacco in New Jersey, which started out as a one-page list in June 1994 became a ten-page document by July 1999 because so many municipalities passed ordinances. The cover artwork illustrates the dramatic proliferation of local controls. This publication is a great encouragement to other towns to act and is now an essential document for tobacco control in New Jersey.

New Jersey GASP's information and activities command wide media coverage. Appearances and interviews have included: Finland's national broadcasting, German state TV, Nippon TV, BBC Radio, ABC-TV, CBS-TV, NBC-TV, PBS-TV, CNN-TV, National Public Radio, Court TV, New Jersey Network TV, MacNeil-Lehrer, Oprah Winfrey, Newsweek, Reader's Digest, Fortune, Time, Business Week, Mirabella, Vogue, Kiplinger Washington Letter, Mademoiselle, Good Housekeeping, New York State Journal of Medicine, New Jersey Medicine, New Jersey magazine, the Age (Australia), the Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Christian Science Monitor, USA Today, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer, Detroit Free Press, Newark Star-Ledger, Bergen Record, Trenton Times, Newsday.

New Jersey GASP publishes a newsletter plus action alerts when necessary. When President Clinton was waffling about supporting FDA regulation of tobacco, alerts were produced and mailed first class to more than 1,000 New Jersey GASP members in less than 24 hours.

Assistance and Advocacy: New Jersey GASP was a major player, helping most of New Jersey's large malls go smokefree; phone calls from GASP's attorney helped to get the attention of management. The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority invited New Jersey GASP's attorney and executive director to join in its press conference announcing its new smokefree policy, acknowledging the help from New Jersey GASP.

The Legislators' Information Service on Tobacco makes sure legislators know that tobacco is a monumental problem and that there are effective, economical, and popular solutions. The regular mailings of the Service provide scientific and health information, data on the economic costs of tobacco, reports of successful tobacco-control actions, and polls demonstrating popular support for tobacco controls.

New Jersey GASP representatives make dozens of presentations each year to employers, organizations, community groups, conferences, legislators, etc. New Jersey GASP provides counsel and legal information for litigation, regulation, and legislation.

New Jersey GASP supplies comprehensive information that towns need -- scientific studies, model ordinances, legal decisions, etc. New Jersey GASP also tracks all proposed ordinances, coordinates support from other organizations and New Jersey GASP members, and provides expert testimony at town council and board of health meetings. In the mid-late 1990s, New Jersey GASP helped several municipalities defend themselves against tobacco vendors and in 2000 New Jersey GASP helped the Princeton Regional Health Commission when it passed a comprehensive smokefree air ordinance and was sued by the National Smokers Alliance. See "History", following.