Respiratory Health Association (then Cook County Tuberculosis Institute), American Heart Association of Metropolitan Chicago (then Chicago Heart Association), and other local health organizations form the Illinois Interagency Coordinating Committee on Smoking and Health. The committee works in conjunction with the National Interagency Council on Smoking and Health. The committee focuses its first meetings on the issue of tobacco company sponsorship of sporting events and other large public events. Over the years the council would change its name to Illinois Interagency Council on Smoking and Health (1967), Illinois Interagency Council on Smoking and Disease (1970), Illinois Interagency Council for a Tobacco-free Society (1989) and finally, Illinois Coalition Against Tobacco (ICAT) (1991). Respiratory Health Association board members, Diana Hackbarth and Janet Williams, were early participants to ICAT. Through the 80s and 90s ICAT would fight against big tobacco sponsorship of public events and would advocate for state and local clean indoor laws. The group played a prominent role in passing the Chicago Clean Indoor Act as well as the Smoke-free Illinois Act. Today, ICAT members include Respiratory Health Association, American Lung Association in Illinois, American Heart Association of Metropolitan Chicago, American Cancer Society in Illinois, and the Illinois Academy of Family Physicians.
Dedicated to Community Lung Health Since 1906