News & Updates

A new report from John Taurus and Frank Chaloupka of the University of Illinois at Chicago analyzed tobacco sales and convenience store data to look at economic trends in tobacco retailers. Their findings help counter common arguments that tobacco control policies (including flavored product sales restrictions) negatively impact business. The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids developed [...]

On May 12, the Food and Drug Administration blocked 10 companies from marketing or distributing 6,500 flavored e-liquid and e-cigarette products. The agency said the action, part of its process for determining whether it is appropriate for products to be on the market, covered a variety of flavored e-cigarettes, including flavors like Citrus and Strawberry Cheesecake. [...]

Researchers surveyed residents in 11 counties in California’s Central Valley about flavored tobacco products and e-cigarettes. They found 58% support for prohibiting the sale of flavored products, with flavored policies more likely to be backed by women, seniors, Latino people, and people who do not smoke or vape. Participants who believed e-cigarettes helped reduce tobacco [...]

On May 11, R.J. Reynolds sued California state officials over Attorney General Robert Bonta’s decision that the tobacco company’s new menthol-like flavored cigarettes violated California’s recent law prohibiting sales of flavored tobacco products. The company is advertising the products under its popular menthol brands, Camel Crush and Newport, and promoting them as being “crisp” and producing [...]

In just nine pages, a new resource available from the Public Health Communications Collaborative covers all the steps of creating a plain-language communications product, from considering your audience to testing your products before release. Read the guide. [...]

Cleveland (an ASPiRE city) is considering an ordinance to prohibit the sale of menthol cigarettes and other flavored tobacco products. Cleveland Public Health Director Dr. David Margolius said Cleveland has the highest smoking rate in the nation at 35%, well above the national average of 12%. “Most smokers, in Cleveland specifically, want to quit,” Margolius [...]

In February, the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of a lower court ruling affirming Los Angeles County’s 2019 law prohibiting the sale of flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes and flavored e-cigarettes. The Public Health Law Center called the court’s denial “an important victory for public health” that “preserves the clear authority of [...]

On March 10, officials in Chicago (an ASPiRE city) announced a $23.8M settlement with JUUL Labs over claims that the company was engaged in harmful and deceptive business practices by marketing and selling vaping products to underage users. Dr. Allison Arwady, Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, applauded the announcement. “E-cigarette businesses cannot [...]

An interactive report from the Council on Foreign Relations examines how nationwide bans on menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars, as proposed by the Biden administration on April 28, 2022, could help shrink the racial gap in U.S. lung cancer death rates. “We find that the ban, if implemented effectively, would indeed close the disparity in [...]

A 2022 Truth Initiative tracking survey of nearly 1,300 people age 15-20 who use e-cigarettes found that while most obtained their devices through a social source, 43% got them from a retail source. Most popular sources were vape shops and gas stations/convenience stores. The youths got their devices despite federal, state, and local policies that [...]