Category Archives: tobacco control programs

More direct evidence that SF flavor ban worked

Last year we published a paper on implementation of San Francisco’s ban on the sale of flavored tobacco products (including menthol) that reported that health department inspectors found high compliance with the flavor ban when they visited retailers. Now, Doris Gammon and colleagues have shown that the law virtually eliminated sales of flavored tobacco productsContinue reading “More direct evidence that SF flavor ban worked”

What we can and cannot say about the immediate effect of SF’s flavored tobacco product ban

NOTE: This blog post was written before it came to light that the San Francisco data in the Friedman study was all collected before the flavor ban was being enforced. Without data after enforcement started, Friedman’s paper falls apart. Please read the recent blog post detailed why this is the case. On May 24, 2021Continue reading “What we can and cannot say about the immediate effect of SF’s flavored tobacco product ban”

Is FDA going to ban menthol as a “characterizing flavor” or an ingredient? It matters

Today the FDA, with important support from the Biden Administration, announced that it would be moving to ban menthol as a “characterizing flavor” in cigarettes. In so doing, the FDA acted as requested in a Citizen’s Petition submitted by the Public Health Law Center in 2013. This is an important step forward. Today’s FDA letterContinue reading “Is FDA going to ban menthol as a “characterizing flavor” or an ingredient? It matters”

How to assess Biden’s actions on menthol

The FDA has to respond to the lawsuit brought by the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council and Action on Smoking and Health demanding a ban on menthol in cigarettes by April 29, 2021, the day after tomorrow. What the FDA is allowed to do will give a strong indication about how serious the BidenContinue reading “How to assess Biden’s actions on menthol”

California ban on flavored tobacco products will save lives & money, create jobs

Last year the California legislature passed SB793, which ended the sale of almost all flavored tobacco products. Led by RJ Reynolds and Philip Morris, the multinational tobacco companies spent over $20 million collecting signatures to force a referendum on the law. Forcing a referendum is an established tobacco industry strategy to shift the field ofContinue reading “California ban on flavored tobacco products will save lives & money, create jobs”

FDA should take Puff Bar at its word that it is not a tobacco product … and ban them as illegal drug delivery devices

The 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act gave the FDA jurisdiction to regulate tobacco products, defined as products “made or derived from tobacco.” This means that any product that includes nicotine derived from tobacco is subject to FDA jurisdiction. There has been discussion in academic circles about nicotine delivery products being made fromContinue reading “FDA should take Puff Bar at its word that it is not a tobacco product … and ban them as illegal drug delivery devices”

Smoke-free laws and cigarette taxes impact smoking behavior trajectories in youth and young adults

All smokers’ behavior is not the same. We and others has identified five trajectories of smoking behavior over time among youth and young adults based on demographic characteristics (graph above). Now Dorie Apollonio, Lauren Dutra and I have expanded this work to include the effects of changing tobacco control policies — smokefree laws and taxesContinue reading “Smoke-free laws and cigarette taxes impact smoking behavior trajectories in youth and young adults”

Biden facing moment of truth on menthol

Under pressure from the tobacco companies Congress exempted menthol from the ban on “characterizing flavors” in cigarettes and other regulated tobacco products when it passed the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act that gave FDA authority to regulate tobacco products. During the negotiations a group of former Secretaries of Health and others criticizedContinue reading “Biden facing moment of truth on menthol”

Pam Ling appointed new director of UCSF CTCRE

On January 28, 2020, UCSF School of Medicine Dean Talmadge King announced that Pam Ling will be the new director of the UCSF Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education. As the dean says, UCSF did a national search and Pam was selected. This is a great choice!       From the Dean DearContinue reading “Pam Ling appointed new director of UCSF CTCRE”