California ban on sale of flavored tobacco products goes into effect after Supreme Court rejects RJR attempt to block it

As expected (at least by me) the Supreme Court refused to consider RJR and other tobacco companies’ argument that California’s ban on the sale of flavored tobacco products was illegal. The law will take effect December 21, 2022. The actual order is above. The California Department of Public Health has done a great job ofContinue reading “California ban on sale of flavored tobacco products goes into effect after Supreme Court rejects RJR attempt to block it”

Surprise! Reynolds & friends sue to block Calif flavored tobacco ban

Like clockwork the Big Tobacco (RJ Reynolds and others) sued California to block implementation of the state’s ban on the sale of flavored tobacco products (Proposition 31). This is not surprising since the tobacco companies have a long history of filing unsuccessful lawsuits to scare local and state governments and slow things down. Unlike normalContinue reading “Surprise! Reynolds & friends sue to block Calif flavored tobacco ban”

New report explains menthol marketing from the beginning and why we need to end it

Robert Jackler and his colleagues at the Stanford Research Into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising recently released “ADVERTISING CREATED & CONTINUES TO DRIVE THE MENTHOL TOBACCO MARKET: Methods Used by The Industry to Target Youth, Women, & Black Americans,” an encyclopedic history of menthol marketing in the United States. Jackler and his colleagues complement aContinue reading “New report explains menthol marketing from the beginning and why we need to end it”

Massachusetts’ comprehensive flavor ban cut menthol sales by 96% and overall tobacco sales by 25%

While the FDA continues to dither on getting rid of flavored tobacco products, most notably menthol e-cigarettes, states and localities continue to move forward. The tobacco companies continue to argue that such bans don’t work and that people will just switch to other products. Melody Kingsley, Hannah McGinnes, and their colleagues at the Massachusetts DepartmentContinue reading “Massachusetts’ comprehensive flavor ban cut menthol sales by 96% and overall tobacco sales by 25%”

FDA’s economic model underestimates the benefits of the proposed product standard prohibiting menthol in cigarettes, so the benefits would be even greater

My colleagues at UCSF and other universities and I have submitted this comment to the FDA in response to its proposal to prohibit the use of menthol in cigarettes. A PDF of the comment is here. The Regulations.gov tracking number is l6b-gxso-b6yq. FDA’s economic model underestimates the benefits of the proposed product standard prohibiting mentholContinue reading “FDA’s economic model underestimates the benefits of the proposed product standard prohibiting menthol in cigarettes, so the benefits would be even greater”

FDA should extend the scope of its proposed cigar flavor standard to prohibit flavors in all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes and smokeless tobacco, to make them less appealing to adolescents and young adults

My colleagues at the UCSF TCORS and I submitted this public comment to the FDA on its proposal to remove flavors from cigars. A PDF of the comment is here. The Regulations.gov tracking number is l6c-lwj1-vcu7. FDA should extend the scope of the proposed flavor standard to prohibit flavors in all tobacco products, including e-cigarettesContinue reading “FDA should extend the scope of its proposed cigar flavor standard to prohibit flavors in all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes and smokeless tobacco, to make them less appealing to adolescents and young adults”

FDA should finalize the proposed rule prohibiting characterizing flavors in cigars and make it effective 90 days after publication of the final rule

My colleagues and I submitted this public comment to FDA urging them not to extend the comment period for the rule ending flavored cigars, as the tobacco companies have requested. Using the FDA’s own analysis cutting the shortening the effective date by nine months (from one-year to 90-days) would prevent an additional 396,000 people fromContinue reading “FDA should finalize the proposed rule prohibiting characterizing flavors in cigars and make it effective 90 days after publication of the final rule”

FDA should not give the tobacco companies more time to submit public comments about the proposed rule ending characterizing flavors in cigars

My colleagues and I submitted this public comment to FDA urging them not to extend the comment period for the rule ending flavored cigars, as the tobacco companies have requested. According to the FDA’s own analysis granting the 3 month delay would cost 60 lives and an additional $1.17-$1.43 billion in costs. The industry hasContinue reading “FDA should not give the tobacco companies more time to submit public comments about the proposed rule ending characterizing flavors in cigars”

We should all thank the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council for the FDA menthol rule

While many organizations and people contributed to the FDA finally issuing a draft rule to get rid of menthol in cigarettes and flavors in cigars, the one at the top of my list is the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council and the “three musketeers of menthol,” Valerie Yerger, Carol McGruder and Phil Gardiner. ThisContinue reading “We should all thank the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council for the FDA menthol rule”

Flavored tobacco sales bans reduce tobacco advertising: An added benefit

The evidence that comprehensive bans on the sale of flavored tobacco products work continues to grow.  And the latest study by Louisa Holmes, Lauren Lempert and Pam Ling adds a new benefit: There is less tobacco product advertising in cities that have flavor bans.  Their paper, Flavored Tobacco Sales Restrictions Reduce Tobacco Product Availability andContinue reading “Flavored tobacco sales bans reduce tobacco advertising: An added benefit”