News & Updates

ASPiRE’s Page Dobbs co-authored a study of tweets following the Dec. 20, 2019 law immediately raising the minimum legal sales age of tobacco products to 21 years. Researchers examined more than 4,600 tweets in the three months leading up to the date of the law and found that most were neutral (46.2%) or negative (38.8%), with most [...]

Research assistants aged 18-20 in New Jersey, New York, and North Carolina were interviewed about their attempts to buy tobacco products. Among the findings: non-chain stores lacked consistency in verifying ages; however, retailer education, adoption of ID scanners and enforcement could increase consistency. “Training for underage buyers in research and compliance assessments should focus on [...]

At its annual meeting on June 5, the U.S. Conference of Mayors approved a resolution supporting the prohibition on sales of all flavored tobacco products, including flavored e-cigarettes, menthol cigarettes, flavored smokeless tobacco, and flavored cigars. In a previous newsletter, we shared videos of some supportive mayors, and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids has shared [...]

A study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that New York City’s cap on tobacco retail licenses resulted in a significant decrease of stores selling tobacco products, with strong effects in districts with greater proportions of residents with lower incomes and with greater proportions of non-Hispanic Black residents. “NYC’s policy substantially reduced tobacco retailer density and [...]

In 2016, Chicago implemented restrictions on the sale of all flavored tobacco products at retailers within 500 feet of schools. Researchers found a statistically significant effect on the availability of flavored tobacco products, but more than half of retailers subject to the policy continued to display flavored products. “This study contributes to the evidence base indicating [...]

The CDC recently shared new online menthol fact sheets for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Data presented include the number of adults who use menthol cigarettes, the number of adults that are considering quitting, the economic cost to the state of smoking, and the estimated number of people who would quit if [...]

A report from Truth Initiative says that sales restrictions on all flavored tobacco products, including all types of menthol products, are gaining momentum at the local and state levels. As of June 30 (2023), 395 jurisdictions and 3 Native American tribes have placed some type of restriction on the sale of flavored tobacco products, and [...]

Sales of nicotine lozenges, pucks, and pouches more than doubled in two years, according to a new report from the Federal Trade Commission, while the number of cigarettes sold by the largest companies decreased. The numbers from 2022 also show that menthol cigarettes were 36 percent of total cigarette sales. Of the $8.01 billion spent [...]

Tobacconomics released a report assessing the effect of policies that restrict the sale of flavored tobacco products in retail businesses using data from tobacco stores, convenience stores, and gas station/convenience stores in the U.S. “Despite concerns that such policies harm tobacco retailers, the findings suggest that these restrictions have no negative effect on retail businesses,” [...]

A study published in Nicotine & Tobacco Research found that tobacco retailer density in California decreased both immediately and over time following a 2016 license fee increase from a one-time-only fee of $100 to an annual fee of $265, with more pronounced impact in ZIP codes with higher proportions of people with low incomes and with a majority [...]

An ASPiRE team that included Paul Delamater, Sarah Halvorson-Fried, Amanda Kong, and Kurt Ribisl examined the clustering of tobacco retailers near public schools. They found that tobacco retailers were closer to schools in rural areas, cities, and towns, and were more dense around schools in rural areas, cities, and suburbs compared to random locations. “This study provides compelling evidence that [...]

The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and its partners have released an updated version of their “Deadly Alliance” report about retail marketing and industry opposition to tobacco control. Tobacco companies now spend more than $8 billion a year to saturate convenience stores, gas stations and other retail outlets with ads and incentives to buy. The update [...]

The Rutgers Center for Excellence in Rapid Surveillance of Tobacco is asking employees of middle schools and high schools to upload photos of tobacco/nicotine products confiscated from students. Funded by NIH and FDA, the center seeks to better understand emerging use of these products by teens. See a flyer about the project. [...]

A study led by ASPiRE’s Page Dobbs and Lisa Henriksen explored the effect of state laws setting the minimum legal sales age that also prohibit localities from enacting stricter laws. (Dr. Dobbs presented early findings at the May 2023 CAB meeting in San Diego.) The study updates the status of preemption in laws enacted in 40 states between 2015 [...]

A nationwide group of 31 tobacco control stakeholders participated in focus groups about the implementation, enforcement, and equity implications of the federal Tobacco 21 law. The experts had experience in policy, evaluation, and implementation and participated in focus groups convened in 2021. Participants shared insights from their communities and highlighted barriers to enforcement, saying current [...]

Recent research by the CDC and Truth Initiative looked at e-cigarette sales by product and flavor type from 2020 to 2022. Total e-cigarette unit sales increased by more than 46%, while shares of prefilled cartridges decreased. At the end of the study period, the five top selling brands were Vuse, JUUL, and NJOY cartridges, along [...]

Researchers examined the impact of state-level policies on adolescent use of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) from 2013-2019, including smokefree laws and minimum legal sales age laws that applied to ENDs and tobacco excise tax laws. The study used data from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health and the Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation [...]

As of July 1, U.S. tobacco companies Philip Morris USA and R.J. Reynolds were required to begin posting signs at about 220,000 US retail stores that sell cigarettes. The signs will be installed near cigarette displays in these stores between July 1 and September 30 and must be displayed until June 30, 2025. The signs [...]

At its annual meeting on June 5, the U.S. Conference of Mayors approved a resolution supporting the prohibition of all flavored tobacco products, including flavored e-cigarettes, menthol cigarettes, flavored smokeless tobacco, and flavored cigars. Tobacco control advocates hope the resolution will prompt more states and localities to address the sale of flavored tobacco products, and [...]

The Public Health Law Center has released the results of its survey of current state statutes in the 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., and five U.S. territories as of June 15, 2023. The data covers the definition of “tobacco product,” taxation, product packaging, youth access/other retail restrictions, licensure, and smokefree air legislation. (Cities, counties and [...]

In-person interviews with owners or managers of tobacco retailers in Beverly Hills and Manhattan Beach, CA–the first two US cities to prohibit the sale of tobacco products–described retailer experiences 22 months after ordinances were implemented January 1, 2021. Experiences of the 22 retailers who were interviewed varied by type of store where they worked. Managers [...]

Adult e-cigarette users from Washington, New Jersey, and New York were surveyed before and after temporary sales restrictions on flavored e-cigarettes in Washington and permanent restrictions in New Jersey and New York. After the restrictions went into effect, most respondents continued to use e-cigarettes with prohibited flavors, and many increased their use of non-flavored e-cigarettes. [...]

A new report from Truth Initiative examines current policies and strategies to move toward the end of commercial tobacco and nicotine use. Policies to achieve this outcome include those that decrease the access, appeal, and addictiveness of products; increase cessation interventions and services; and denormalize all tobacco use. They are a set of strategies aimed [...]

The San Diego City Attorney has filed a suit against two businesses, alleging they continued to sell flavored tobacco products after California law prohibited their distribution. The suit accuses Keg n’ Bottle and Payless Smoke Shop of repeatedly selling the products between May and August of this year. The sale of flavored tobacco products was [...]

A paper in Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention and Policy based on your responses to surveys during our CAB meetings focuses on CAB member preferences for receiving scientific evidence and ways to use it. The paper, co-authored by Ginger McKay and other members of the ASPiRE team at WashU, analyzed the results of the surveys completed [...]

Also in the 30th anniversary issue of Tobacco Control, a special communication by ASPiRE’s Kurt Ribisl and Shelley Golden proposes strategies for making higher tobacco excise taxes even more effective. Designing those taxes to raise prices frequently and substantially for all products, along with minimum price laws and bans on coupons, discounts, and other promotions [...]

ChangeLab Solutions and the CDC have partnered to help tobacco prevention staff and partners frame their communications on tobacco-related health disparities in ways that minimize racial biases and foster support for effective policy solutions. Messaging that focuses on disparities can reinforce biases about the communities that are most harmed by commercial tobacco, leading policymakers to [...]

Cigar packaging features such as small pack sizes, innovative materials, flavor names, bright colors, and cost-saving promotions are prevalent among the top-selling products, concludes a study of packaging of top-selling cigars in the U.S. Stronger packaging-focused policies at the federal and local levels may help reduce appeal and potentially curb cigar use, conclude the authors [...]

The Los Angeles Times recently published a revealing story about how the tobacco industry has used the deaths of George Floyd and Eric Garner at the hands of police to alarm Black smokers about proposals to prohibit the sale of menthol cigarettes. Paid lobbyists for Big Tobacco have suggested to legislators that banning menthol would [...]

In the 30th anniversary issue of Tobacco Control, ASPiRE’s Amanda Kong and Lisa Henriksen note that an increasing number of countries have set goals for dramatic reductions in smoking. But to achieve those goals and promote health equity, policies are needed to reduce retail sales and visibility of tobacco products. Focusing on retailer reduction strategies [...]

A qualitative review of published research that evaluated tobacco sales policies found a moderate to high quality of evidence associating policies with reduced availability, marketing, and sales of policy-restricted products, as well as decreased youth and adult tobacco use of the products. But the authors also found policy exclusions and exemptions, implementation challenges, tobacco industry [...]

Statewide restrictions on the sale of flavored e-cigarettes in Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, and Washington were associated with a reduction in total e-cigarette sales, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The authors say their findings suggest that not all e-cigarette users who purchased non-tobacco-flavored e-cigarettes switched to [...]

The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously June 1 to ban the sale of all flavored tobacco products except flavored shisha tobacco, allowing it to be sold in some hookah lounges. The law does not ban the possession or use of flavored tobacco, only its sale. The ban is scheduled to go into effect January [...]

An ASPiRE team led by Todd Combs combined geospatial data on residential and tobacco retailer density in our CAB cities and found that a large majority of urban residents live in tobacco swamps – neighborhoods where there is a glut of tobacco retailers. Their study, published in Health & Place, simulated the effects of tobacco [...]

A study examined the effects of flavored tobacco sales restrictions San Francisco and other Bay Area communities, as well as the implementation of a $2 increase in tobacco excise tax. They found that average cigarette prices increased significantly more in cities with flavor policies, leading the authors to conclude that the local policies may have [...]

The CDC Foundation has released new e-cigarette sales data in national and state briefs with sales by e-cigarette flavor and device types through March 2023. One state brief shows that following California’s flavored e-cigarette restrictions, monthly e-cigarette total unit sales decreased by 35.2% from December 4, 2022, a decline representing 27.8% of the decline in [...]

ASPiRE’s Lisa Henriksen, Trent Johnson, and Nina Schleicher co-authored another T21 study, which examined the impact of state-level T21 laws on age verification of cigarette and e-cigarette purchases among young adults before and after implementation of the federal T21 policy. They found that state T21 status correlated with age verification for e-cigarettes but not cigarettes. [...]

CounterTobacco recently hosted “Better Conversations about Health Equity and Tobacco Point of Sale Strategies,” a webinar about messaging on the topics of tobacco sales and health equity. Experts addressed questions like: “How can we talk about health equity in ways that resonate?” and other effective ways to message about health equity, as well as best practices to [...]

Henriksen, Johnson, and Schleicher were co-authors of a study that looked at promotional strategies, products, and compliance with regulations among vape shops in Atlanta, Boston, Minneapolis, Oklahoma City, San Diego, and Seattle in 2018 and 2021. They found that with increasing restrictions, fewer shops sold their own e-liquid brands or accommodated on-site use/sampling, but fewer [...]

ASPiRE’s Amanda Kong and Joseph Lee are co-authors of a study conducted in 2019-22 in which buyers aged 18-20 tried to buy cigarettes, cigars, e-cigarettes, nicotine pouches, and smokeless tobacco at retail stores in New Jersey, New York City and Pitt County, N.C. Buyers documented whether they were asked for identification and whether they were [...]

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 [...]

Last year, the FDA authorized the sale of the first low-nicotine cigarettes as modified-risk tobacco products, and a survey of the first retail test market in Chicago was recently published by ASPiRE’s Lisa Henriksen and co-authors. Researchers called all 133 Chicago-area Circle K stores and later visited those stores to asses VLN product placement, advertising, [...]

An evaluation team led by ASPiRE’s Todd Combs and Veronica Chaitan, in collaboration with Interact for Health of Ohio, recently released a report of the team’s findings from a study of the successful efforts to pass, implement, and enforce Tobacco 21 in local communities. The report found that retailer support for Tobacco 21 increased during the [...]

A CDC study co-authored by ASPiRE’s Maggie Mahoney found that nearly two-thirds of adults support prohibiting menthol cigarette sales, while more than half support prohibiting all sales of tobacco products. The findings were based on a web panel survey of 6,455 U.S. adults age 18 or older. No significant racial and ethnic group differences were [...]

The Detroit News cited ASPiRE’s research in a recent story about efforts to pass a statewide ban on flavored tobacco products in Michigan. “Eighty-five percent of the city’s population lives within a 10-minute walk of a tobacco retailer, according to ASPiRE, a center funded by the National Cancer Institute,” the story reported. The data is being [...]

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 March 2023 PubMed search results are now available. Check them out! And check back after the first Tuesday of each month for a new list.  [...]

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 February 2023 PubMed search results are now available. Check them out! And check back after the first Tuesday of each month for a new list.  [...]

ASPiRE partner, the Public Health Law Center, released a “best practices” summary for inspections of tobacco retailers to ensure compliance with laws that restrict the minimum legal sales age or sales restrictions on flavored tobacco. Topics include the frequency of checks, responses to violations, and focusing on “high risk” retailers, such as those with previous [...]

The New York Times reported that R.J. Reynolds has responded to California’s prohibition on the sale of most flavored tobacco products with a marketing campaign touting new nonmenthol versions of Camel and Newport brands that it says offer “a taste that satisfies the senses” and “a new fresh twist.” The California law prohibits the sale [...]

A paper by Bukola Usidame, a new ASPiRE team member from Purdue University, and coauthor Lisa Henriksen looked at the association between local tobacco retail licensing ordinances and adult cigarette use in California. They found limited evidence that stronger licensing laws were associated with lower odds of smoking cigarettes. The authors said future studies should [...]

A study of 242 tobacco retailers in Kentucky, New Jersey, New York, and North Carolina examined the availability of nicotine pouches and disposable e-cigarettes. Researchers found that pouches were more likely to be available in census tracts with a greater percentage of non-Hispanic White residents, while disposable e-cigarettes were more likely to be available in [...]

A recently published study by ASPiRE’s Amanda Kong and Joseph Lee found greater tobacco and alcohol product availability in North Carolina communities with highly concentrated racial or economic segregation. Researchers created a list of probable tobacco retailers, along with a list of alcohol retailers from the state alcohol commission and compared then to three census [...]

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 January 2023 PubMed search results are now available. Check them out! And check back after the first Tuesday of each month for a new list.  [...]

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 December 2022 PubMed search results are now available. Check them out! And check back after the first Tuesday of each month for a new list.  [...]

A webinar by the University of California-San Francisco’s Smoking Cessation Leadership Center focused on the projected impacts of cigarette tax increases and other interventions in Tobacco Nation, the 13 states in the southern and midwestern U.S. with disproportionately high rates of smoking. Speakers were Emily Donovan, senior researcher for Truth Nation in Washington; and Michael [...]

A research team led by Daniel P. Giovenco of Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health used a packaging archive of the top-selling, mass-market cigar products in the U.S. and their corresponding sales data to assess the prevalence of common pack features in the marketplace. They found that the most popular brand did not display [...]

A partnership between CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health and the Center for Public Health Systems Science at Washington University is developing a new set of supplements to CDC’s popular Best Practices User Guides for tobacco control. The second and third supplements on Mapping Techniques and Retail Strategies to Support Health Equity are now available. [...]

On December 6, a federal judge in Washington ordered the major U.S. tobacco companies to post signs next year at nearly 200,000 retail outlets that sell cigarettes, warning potential buyers of the health risks. The order will fully implement the “corrective statements” the tobacco companies were first ordered to make in 2006, when U.S. District [...]

An evaluation of the 2018 menthol tobacco sales restrictions implemented in Minneapolis and Duluth found mixed reactions among youth ages 14-17. Many of the youth who were interviewed obtain tobacco through peers, family members, and online. The youth observed decreases in retail advertising of menthol cigarettes, although many felt e-cigarettes and online advertising were more [...]

A study by researchers in New York examined changes in nicotine product use among youth after the passage of a statewide restriction on the sale of flavored e-cigarettes in 2020. The team conducted online surveys of youth ages 16-19. Over a two-year period, they found significant decreases in past 30-day e-cigarette use, cigarette use, and [...]

Enforcement of Tobacco 21 laws was the subject of a paper co-authored by ASPiRE’s Amanda Kong. Researchers focused on New Jersey, one of several states that increased the tobacco age-of-sale to 21 prior to passage of the federal law in 2019. The study sent five buyers aged 18-20 to 86 retailers between August 2019 and [...]

A study co-authored by ASPiRE’s Lisa Henriksen examined possible unintended consequences of restricting tobacco sales to state-owned liquor stores in the 12 states with government retail monopolies on liquor. Researchers examined survey data from nearly 15,000 adults who responded to the 2015 or 2020 U.S. National Alcohol Survey, including more than 2,000 in one of [...]

ASPiRE’s Joseph G.L. Lee (East Carolina University) and ASPiRE partner Shyanika W. Rose (University of Kentucky) co-authored a study that audited retailers in four states to analyze neighborhood distribution of the availability of disposable e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches. Both products were available in about half the stores audited in Kentucky, New Jersey, New York, and [...]

Contracts between tobacco companies and retailers was the subject of an October 21 podcast from Counter Tobacco, featuring ASPiRE’s Allie Reimold (UNC). We learned about the impact of those contracts on the retail environment at our May 2021 CAB meeting. For more details, read the paper she co-authored in Tobacco Control, which concluded that those [...]

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 November 2022 PubMed search results are now available. Check them out! And check back after the first Tuesday of each month for a new list.  [...]

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 October 2022 PubMed search results are now available. Check them out! And check back after the first Tuesday of each month for a new list.  [...]

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). [...]

The Food and Drug Administration has posted transcripts and recordings of two listening sessions on its proposed menthol ban that were held in June, as a complement to comments submitted during the formal commenting process. Each session began with an FDA explanation of its proposed restrictions, after which members of the public were able to [...]

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 [...]

Photos of cigarettes displayed on the shelves of 160 New York City tobacco retailers were used by New York University researchers to document the potential impact of a menthol cigarette ban. Menthol cigarettes displays averaged about 25% of the displayed cigarettes overall, but that percentage was significantly greater in areas with higher smoking rates, with [...]

Researchers from Boston College found that county-level restrictions on flavored tobacco products were associated with reduced use of cigarettes and e-cigarettes by adolescents in Massachusetts. The local restrictions limited the sale of flavored tobacco products to adult-only retail tobacco stores.  “Local legislation can reduce adolescent tobacco use, and municipalities should enact stricter tobacco-control policies when [...]

Recent studies have estimated the harm of menthol cigarettes in the U.S. from 1980-2018 among both the general population as well as among African Americans specifically, and have estimated the public health impact of a US ban on menthol in cigarettes and cigars in the general population. The FDA’s proposed rule cited these impactful studies [...]

Counter Tools and Truth Initiative partnered in 2018 to develop retail tobacco store assessment questions focused on menthol and other flavored products; those questions were later revised to include e-cigarettes. Now, a new report assessing marketing at retailers in five cities in Illinois, Missouri, and Ohio (including Cleveland) is available on-line, with downloadable resources. See [...]

A partnership between CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health and the Center for Public Health Systems Science at Washington University is developing a new set of supplements to CDC’s popular Best Practices User Guides for tobacco control. The Tobacco Where You Live supplements help state and local programs understand how commercial tobacco use varies within [...]

In an effort led by Sarah Mills, ASPiRE has filed a public comment with the Food and Drug Administration describing the public-health benefits of a comprehensive ban on the sale of menthol-flavored cigarettes, proposed by the FDA in April. The filing cited numerous studies that provide evidence that menthol is associated with the initiation of [...]

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 August 2022 PubMed search results are now available. Check them out! And check back after the first Tuesday of each month for a new list.  [...]

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 July 2022 PubMed search results are now available. Check them out! And check back after the first Tuesday of each month for a new list.  [...]

ChangeLab Solutions and the CDC have partnered to help tobacco prevention staff and partners frame their communications on tobacco-related health disparities in ways that minimize racial biases and foster support for effective policy solutions. Messaging that focuses on disparities can reinforce biases about the communities that are most harmed by commercial tobacco, leading policymakers to [...]

The Los Angeles Times recently published a revealing story about how the tobacco industry has used the deaths of George Floyd and Eric Garner at the hands of police to alarm Black smokers about proposals to prohibit the sale of menthol cigarettes. Paid lobbyists for Big Tobacco have suggested to legislators that banning menthol would [...]

The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously June 1 to ban the sale of all flavored tobacco products except flavored shisha tobacco, allowing it to be sold in some hookah lounges. The law does not ban the possession or use of flavored tobacco, only its sale. The ban is scheduled to go into effect January [...]

A qualitative review of published research that evaluated tobacco sales policies found a moderate to high quality of evidence associating policies with reduced availability, marketing, and sales of policy-restricted products, as well as decreased youth and adult tobacco use of the products. But the authors also found policy exclusions and exemptions, implementation challenges, tobacco industry [...]

Cigar packaging features such as small pack sizes, innovative materials, flavor names, bright colors, and cost-saving promotions are prevalent among the top-selling products, concludes a study of packaging of top-selling cigars in the U.S. Stronger packaging-focused policies at the federal and local levels may help reduce appeal and potentially curb cigar use, conclude the authors [...]

Statewide restrictions on the sale of flavored e-cigarettes in Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, and Washington were associated with a reduction in total e-cigarette sales, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The authors say their findings suggest that not all e-cigarette users who purchased non-tobacco-flavored e-cigarettes switched to [...]

A paper in Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention and Policy based on your responses to surveys during our CAB meetings focuses on CAB member preferences for receiving scientific evidence and ways to use it. The paper, led by Virginia McKay and co-authored by other members of the ASPiRE team at WashU, analyzed the results of the [...]

Also in the 30th anniversary issue of Tobacco Control, a special communication by ASPiRE’s Kurt Ribisl and Shelley Golden proposes strategies for making higher tobacco excise taxes even more effective. Designing those taxes to raise prices frequently and substantially for all products, along with minimum price laws and bans on coupons, discounts, and other promotions [...]

In the 30th anniversary issue of Tobacco Control, ASPiRE’s Amanda Kong and Lisa Henriksen note that an increasing number of countries have set goals for dramatic reductions in smoking. But to achieve those goals and promote health equity, policies are needed to reduce retail sales and visibility of tobacco products. Focusing on retailer reduction strategies [...]

An ASPiRE team led by Todd Combs combined geospatial data on residential and tobacco retailer density in our CAB cities and found that a large majority of urban residents live in tobacco swamps – neighborhoods where there is a glut of tobacco retailers. Their study, published in Health & Place, simulated the effects of tobacco [...]

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 June 2022 PubMed search results are now available. Check them out! And check back after the first Tuesday of each month for a new list.  [...]

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 May 2022 PubMed search results are now available. Check them out! And check back after the first Tuesday of each month for a new list.  [...]

The ASPiRE Center is awarding pilot grants of $10,000 each for the 2022-2023 grant cycle to fund developmental or early stage work, with the purpose of advancing D&I science and building capacity for D&I research in evidence-based tobacco retail policy. More information and downloadable application materials are available here. [...]

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 April 2022 PubMed search results are now available. Check them out! And check back after the first Tuesday of each month for a new list.  [...]

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 March 2022 PubMed search results are now available. Check them out! And check back after the first Tuesday of each month for a new list.  [...]

This new resource will equip tobacco prevention and control staff with the knowledge, context, and resources to understand how preemption influences their work. Readers will learn about different forms of preemption, key steps and legal considerations for determining local authority, and strategies communities are using to make progress despite preemption of local point-of-sale policies. Read [...]

Researchers including National Cancer Institute (NCI) Project Officer Annette Kaufman and former Project Officer Bob Vollinger used the NCI 2020 Health Information National Trends Survey to examine public opinion of proposed restrictions on tobacco product placement and advertising at point-of-sale and on social media. The authors found broad support—for example, 60% of U.S. adults support [...]

Previous studies inferred that hookah lounges and vape shops cluster near colleges from evidence of greater density and closer proximity to campuses. However, this study, including ASPiRE’s Nina Schleicher and Lisa Henriksen, developed a new approach to test for spatial clustering. The authors compared the observed locations of hookah lounges, vape shops and all tobacco [...]

This study, co-authored by ASPiRE CAB member Geoffrey Fong, analyzed the effects of Canadian point-of-sale (POS) tobacco display bans on quit attempts and smoking cessation. The study found that adults who smoke cigarettes and were living in a province with a POS ban in place for at least two years had a greater chance of [...]

TIME Magazine recently published a story about the tobacco industry’s funding of controversial tobacco-prevention programs in schools, which public health experts say don’t work and promote the idea that tobacco giants really care about kids. In January, Malcolm Ahlo, our ASPiRE CAB member in Las Vegas, was offered the chance to apply for a grant [...]

Tobacco companies handsomely incentivize retailers around the world to follow harsh requirements related to selling and marketing tobacco products through contracts that fly under the radar of both consumers and policymakers. These agreements allow tobacco manufacturers to give their products primary placement in stores, discount their pricing and target specific demographics. Such rigorous control undermines [...]

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 February 2022 PubMed search results are now available. Check them out! And check back after the first Tuesday of each month for a new list.  [...]

This study with ASPiRE authors Kong, Golden, Ribisl, and Vandegrift evaluates compliance with a US Department of Defense (DoD) policy requiring stores on military bases to set tobacco prices comparable to stores in the surrounding community. The authors conducted store audits of 23 on-base and 50 off-base retailers in Texas. They found the median price of [...]

Ads for little cigars that implied health claims and featured premium branding and sensory descriptors were found by researchers in retail settings near schools. Although the FDA prohibits using inaccurate, reduced-risk descriptors on tobacco product advertising, researchers visiting 530 retailers near California middle and high schools photographed and content analyzed cigar ads, finding 44% of [...]

A study co-authored by Henriksen and ASPiRE researchers Monika Vishwakarma, Trent Johnson, and Nina Schleicher examined compliance at 614 California vape shops with state-mandated age-of-sale signs, the presence of age-of-entry signs, and the tobacco industry’s “We Card” sign in 2019. The researchers found that compliance with the age-of-sale sign was 69.4%, with vape-only stores less [...]

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 January 2022 PubMed search results are now available. Check them out! And check back after the first Tuesday of each month for a new list.  [...]

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 December 2021 PubMed search results are now available. Check them out! And check back after the first Tuesday of each month for a new list.  [...]

The CDC Foundation has produced data briefs on U.S. trends in e-cigarette sales, including trends in several states. The briefs update trends in sales of e-cigarettes by product and flavor type. These briefs are intended to provide information about population trends in sales for participating retailers; they don’t include online sale or vape store sales, [...]

After more than 50 years of research, we know what works to reduce commercial tobacco use. Yet evidence-based interventions are not reaching the people who need them most, and tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S. Now, the CDC has published a new guide designed to help programs like yours [...]

The investigators examined the effects of California’s tobacco and cannabis policies on the availability of tobacco. Recent laws prohibit the sale of flavored tobacco and set minimum pack sizes for little cigars and cigarillos (LCCs), while increasing availability of cannabis through more permissive sales and marketing policies. The study found that the cannabis policies were [...]

This study systematically reviewed papers that evaluated flavored tobacco sales policies implemented in the United States during 2010-2019. From these papers, the authors developed a model to assess outcomes, assigned quality-of-evidence ratings to outcomes, and identified factors that might explain weak or inconsistent findings. Moderate- to high-quality evidence existed to associate policy implementation with reduced [...]

In telephone interviews with adults who smoke cigarettes and/or use electronic delivery systems, researchers found several changes in the use and purchase of inhaled tobacco products during the initial COVID-19 stay-at-home period in the U.S. Community-level changes centered on product accessibility and were reflected primarily in purchasing patterns. Interpersonal-level changes reflected shifts in household dynamics [...]

The authors, including ASPiRE’s Lisa Henriksen, analyzed survey data from 3,000 young adults in six metropolitan areas to examine e-cigarette use, advertising and media exposure, and age verification experiences during purchase. Consistent with previous studies, the research found a positive, possibly reciprocal, association between e-cigarette use and advertising/media exposure. The survey also pointed to poor [...]

By making cheaper cigarettes available in poorer, younger, and more rural neighborhoods, dollar stores may contribute to smoking inequities, according to a study whose co-authors include ASPiRE’s Lisa Henriksen and Nina Schleicher. Using data from California on tobacco retailers, the researchers found that census tracts with lower median household income, rural status, and higher proportions [...]

This study, co-authored by ASPiRE’s Amanda Kong, Paul Delamater, Kurt Ribisl, Chris Baggett, and Shelley Golden, investigates census tract racial, ethnic, and sociodemographic characteristics to determine their association with tobacco retailer density. Results indicated that a higher percentage of Black and Latino residents was associated with a higher tobacco retailer density in both the tract [...]

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 October 2021 PubMed search results are now available. Check them out! And check back after the first Tuesday of each month for a new list.     [...]

On Sept. 9, the Food and Drug Administration postponed a decision on whether many tobacco products that entered the market since 2007, including flavored e-cigarettes, can be sold. In a statement, the FDA said it has denied marketing applications for nearly 1 million flavored e-cigarettes because companies did not provide enough evidence that any potential [...]

This study examined three successful tobacco retail policy initiatives to restrict menthol tobacco availability in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Duluth, Minnesota, using key informant interviews with community leaders and members. Theme analysis indicated that strong city council support, leadership from impacted communities, awareness-building campaigns, and education about tobacco industry counter-tactics facilitated these initiatives. Challenges included [...]

Researchers from the University of California–Berkeley investigated associations between California’s 2016 T21 law and adolescent use of tobacco products, including differences across racial and ethnic groups. Comparing 2010–2011 and 2017–2018 health survey data, the study found that the T21 policy was associated with a reduced prevalence of lifetime smokeless tobacco and e-cigarette use, and past-month [...]

Retail advertising is the primary way young adults are exposed to tobacco marketing in their daily lives. A new study co-authored by ASPiRE’s Kurt Ribisl found that young adults from vulnerable communities are at increased risk of seeing any tobacco marketing, and especially the marketing of flavored tobacco. The paper concludes that policies curtailing tobacco [...]

At the beginning of 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 2021 PubMed search results are now available. Check them out! And check back after the first Tuesday of each month [...]

The American Heart Association has developed a series of well-done GIFs and PDFs to support policy work on tobacco flavors and tobacco retail licensure. You’re welcome to share them with your networks. See the flavors/menthol GIFs. See the tobacco retail licensure GIFs and PDFs. [...]

Researchers from the ASPiRE team at the University of North Carolina, led by ASPiRE’s Shelley Golden, developed a protocol to identify U.S. tobacco retailers between 2000 and 2017. Using industry codes and retailer names from a national database, they calculated annual counts of tobacco retailers, together with retailer openings and closings. They found a net increase [...]

As tobacco control programs are asked to do more with fewer resources, partnerships have become more important. The CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health has published a new Best Practices User Guide: Partnerships in Tobacco Control. Written in partnership with members of the ASPiRE team from WashU’s Center for Public Health Systems Science, the guide [...]

There are 27 brick-and-mortar tobacco retailers for every one McDonald’s restaurant in the U.S., equaling 375,000 tobacco retail locations. Retailers are not equally distributed, but tend to be clustered in lower-income and minority communities. New research concludes that living near more tobacco retailers is linked with people being more likely to use tobacco and less [...]

At the beginning of 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 August 2021 PubMed search results are now available. Check them out! And check back after the first Tuesday of each month [...]

Last month, Juul Labs agreed to pay North Carolina $40 million to settle the first of many lawsuits brought by states claiming the e-cigarette company’s marketing contributed to widespread nicotine addiction among youths. The settlement was announced as the Food and Drug Administration is deciding whether its vaping products can stay on the market. Read [...]

Data from more than 1,300 smokeless tobacco retailers in Oklahoma showed that convenience stores, found and used more often in rural than in metropolitan areas, are disproportionately more likely to engage in marketing strategies that could lure youth into smokeless tobacco use. Read the paper. [...]

A study from the University of Chicago examined JUUL’s advertising efforts in 2018 and 2019. Touted as an effort to combat underage use, in 2018, JUUL invested $30 million investment in ads, primarily promoting the products and emphasizing its role in smoking reduction. In 2019, the company spent $36.2 million in advertising. These marketing activities [...]

A study in Columbus, Ohio, examined whether compliance checks with Tobacco 21 were related to retailer characteristics, including neighborhood poverty level, in-store T21 signage, and cashier behaviors and perceptions of the law. The authors found that compliance with ID checks was lower in high-poverty neighborhoods and higher among retailers using scanners for ID checks. They [...]

A paper in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine based on the dissertation of ASPiRE’s Amanda Kong (UNC) found that the density of tobacco retailers, especially gas stations and convenience stores that sell tobacco products, was associated with adult smoking behaviors. Read the paper. Kong also posted a brief “tweetorial” about the data. [...]

At the beginning of 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 July 2021 PubMed search results are now available. Check them out! And check back after the first Tuesday of each month [...]

At the beginning of 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 June 2021 PubMed search results are now available. Check them out! And check back after the first Tuesday of each month [...]

The ASPiRE Center is awarding pilot grants of $10,000 each for the 2021-2022 grant cycle to fund developmental or early stage work, with the purpose of advancing D&I science and building capacity for D&I research in evidence-based tobacco retail policy. More information and downloadable application materials are available here. [...]

Researchers from The Ohio State University tracked maps of 13 Ohio cities over time using racially discriminatory redlining criteria and tobacco retailer licenses by location and found that tobacco retailer density increased as redlining grades decreased, reflecting higher densities in low-income and Black neighborhoods. See the paper. [...]

A study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine shows localities can provide an extra layer to the federal Tobacco 21 law by adding components to their own T21 laws, like a comprehensive definition of tobacco, retail licensure, a graduated penalty structure, and an enforcement mechanism (e.g., compliance checks, inspections, etc.). Now, most local T21 [...]