http://www.cherokee.org/PressRoom/32312/Press_Article.aspx

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. — With the onset of summer, now is the perfect time to improve your home’s energy efficiency with a free home energy audit and weatherization kit from Cherokee Nation. Cooling a home during a brutal Oklahoma summer can be costly, but a home energy audit can help homeowners reduce costs by identifying air leaks and taking preventive measures to improve their home’s energy efficiency.

Auditors use a noninvasive procedure to measure air leakage in the home. Using an infrared camera, they indentify the leaks and insulation defects that contribute to the home’s cooling deficiency. After the audit, the homeowner will receive a report with results and recommendations that can fix energy problems and make the home more comfortable.

Along with the free inspection and report, homeowners will receive a weatherization kit and instruction on how to use the materials in it. The kit includes a caulk gun, caulk, weather-strips, insulating gaskets, safety plugs, window kits, expanding foam and a backer rod.

Officials with Cherokee Nation’s Environmental Services program, which provides the audits, say an average home will lose $450 a year in energy costs due to air leakage and insulation defects. Simple measures such as caulking, sealing and adding insulation can save an average of $350 a year, reduce pollution and prolong the life of heating and cooling appliances.

Audits are available to Cherokee Nation citizens that own their home and live within the tribe’s jurisdiction. Priority is given to elders, homes built before 1980, veterans and those with young children. To schedule a home energy audit call 918-453-5099 and a representative from Cherokee Nation Environmental Services will contact you to schedule an appointment.

Cherokee Nation News Release

918-453-5490 OFC 918-458-6181 FAX

communications@cherokee.org

WASHINGTON–The American Lung Association heralds the announcement today by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on its final rule requiring graphic health warning labels on all cigarette packages and advertisements. At long last, starting in the fall of 2012, these large, graphic warning labels will appear on the top 50 percent of the front and back of all cigarette packs – replacing the 25 year-old warnings that are ineffective and hidden on the side of packages.

The American Lung Association is extremely pleased that FDA heeded the recommendations of the Lung Association and so many public health organizations that urged FDA to include 1-800-QUIT-NOW on each graphic warning label. Smokers who want to quit, as a result of seeing these graphic warning labels, need to know who to turn to for the help they need to quit.

Quitting smoking is the single most important step an individual can take to improve their health. Investing in smoking cessation, one of the three most effective prevention services, must be a priority to prevent disease, save lives and curb health costs. The American Lung Association strongly urges the federal government and states to partner to ensure their quitlines have sufficient resources to handle an increase in calls, as a result of these new warning labels. No smoker should hear a busy signal or be placed into voicemail when they are finally ready to make the life-saving decision to quit smoking.

This regulation is the result of a very thorough and comprehensive scientific evaluation conducted by the FDA. While the graphic images displayed on the new warning labels may be disturbing to some, the World Health Organization has concluded that “health warnings on tobacco packages increase smokers’ awareness of their risk. Use of pictures with graphic depictions of disease and other negative images has greater impact than words alone.” Studies have also found graphic images to be effective at deterring children from smoking – the tobacco industry’s prime target when seeking new customers for their addictive product.

It will be important for the FDA to ensure the graphic images are regularly rotated to prevent overexposure. FDA must also continue its surveillance and as required in the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, develop new images when these images begin to lose their effectiveness.

The American Lung Association has been successfully helping smokers quit for more than 30 years with its Freedom From Smoking® program, which provides a personalized step-by-step quit plan and is available as a face-to-face program or online (www.ffsonline.org). For assistance with quitting smoking or for additional questions about lung health, please call the American Lung Association’s Lung HelpLine at 1-800-548-8252.