News & Updates

Expanded flavor restrictions linked to reduced sales in the Twin Cities Expanding restrictions on the sale of flavored tobacco products to include menthol, mint, and wintergreen in Minneapolis and St. Paul was associated with greater decreases in sales of menthol cigarettes and smokeless tobacco than in other areas, according to a report in Tobacco Control. [...]

The ASPiRE team from the University of North Carolina argues that retail policy changes in that state would bolster attempts to reduce youth tobacco use and eliminate tobacco-related disparities. The commentary, published in the North Carolina Medical Journal, describes the evidence for point-of-sale policies including Tobacco 21 laws, restrictions on advertising and promotions, flavored tobacco [...]

ASPiRE’s Amanda Kong and her co-authors found that tobacco’s importance as a driver of retail traffic in British convenience stores declined significantly from 2016 to 2019. Researchers analyzed electronic point-of-sale systems data from 1,253 convenience stores. Their results undermine industry claims that tobacco sales are essential to the viability of convenience stores. Read the paper. [...]

For this recent study, Henriksen and colleagues surveyed young adults in the Atlanta, Boston, Minneapolis, Oklahoma City, San Diego, and Seattle metro areas who use e-cigarettes. The results illustrate how consumers from jurisdictions with different regulatory landscapes responded to FDA’s removal of flavored cartridge e-cigarettes (other than tobacco or menthol flavors) that were on the market [...]

In a commentary published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, ASPiRE’s Lisa Henriksen and her co-authors examine the impact of new state and federal laws, cannabis legalization, and other regulatory complexities that have affected how e-cigarettes are being marketed and their effect on public health. Topics discussed include youth access, consumer [...]

We’re excited to announce our award of one ASPiRE pilot grant for 2022: What do you think? Experts weigh in on the feasibility and impact of various retail tobacco policies New policies for tobacco control might be easy to propose, but harder to get approved and implemented. Todd Combs (Center for Public Health Systems Science at the [...]

The Public Health Law Center has updated two factsheets that provide general information about tobacco advertising restrictions regarding content, time, place, or manner. Each factsheet includes examples of these restrictions and describes potential legal challenges. Read Content-Neutral Advertising Laws (2022 update). Read Restricting Tobacco Advertising (2022 update). [...]

Each month, we conduct a search of the PubMed database for new peer-reviewed articles on the retail tobacco environment and policy. Many of these articles are available for FREE. The September 2022 PubMed search results are now available. Check them out! And check back after the first Tuesday of each month for a new list.  [...]

Researchers from the University of Texas audited advertising data from convenience stores and gas stations around middle and high schools in the state’s metro areas, then simulated a 1,000-foot ban of tobacco sales around the schools. They found that schools with a higher enrollment of Hispanic/Latino and economically disadvantaged students were surrounded by more advertising [...]

Retail tobacco sales data may be a good alternative to the traditional “gold standard” tobacco retail surveys to better adapt to the rapidly changing tobacco retail landscape, reports the CDC Foundation in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. The proliferation of new kinds of e-cigarettes and other tobacco products will require new methods to rapidly [...]