This June, ASH joined forces with the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council (AATCLC) and Pollock Cohen LLP to sue the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) over their inaction on menthol cigarettes.

“By continuing to delay, the FDA and the U.S. government are failing to protect the health of U.S. citizens, particularly African Americans, and the U.S. is also falling behind the global trend as countries around the world are increasingly banning menthol,” said Kelsey Romeo-Stuppy, Managing Attorney at ASH.

Read our joint statement, the full complaint, and several partners’ statements of support here.

• ASH began a webinar series in March to fill the information gap that initially existed. We’ve continued to host webinars that share timely research and resources with advocates. Recordings and resources here.
• In response to many advocates seeking additional information, we developed our COVID-19 and Tobacco Policy and Communications Toolkit here.
• And we maintain this COVID-19 resource center for advocates and the general public.
• We’ve continued to provide a platform to individual supporters who want to share what motivates them to want to take down big tobacco. Reply to this email if you’d like to share your story. And see what Atul said here and John’s family said after he died because of tobacco use here.
• ASH’s Response to an opinion piece in The Hill on cigarette sales in the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic
• ASH Statement: Leaving and Halting Funding to the World Health Organization Harms More Than the COVID-19 Response

• Sign on Letter to the UN: Tobacco Industry Misinformation During the Pandemic 
• NGO Joint Submission to the UN Human Rights Council
• The urgent need for a human rights approach to improving smoking cessation treatment
• CIEP Report: Increasing Tobacco Taxes Benefits the Poor
• Oxford University Press: Nicotine & Tobacco Research, Volume 22, Issue 6, June 2020, Pages 1054–1055: A Holistic Approach to Human Rights and the Tobacco Epidemic 
• Tobacco Control in the United States: Failure to Protect the Right to Health 
• Hannaford grocery store chain to stop selling tobacco products in all stores in the Northeast
• Online Simulation Model to Estimate the Total Costs of Tobacco Product Waste in Large U.S. Cities
• WHO teams up with J&J, Google, Amazon to fight COVID-era smoking

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, these are trying times for us all. We are adjusting to our new “normal” at home. At the same time, the tobacco epidemic continues. We are in no way minimizing the fear felt and harm experienced from the coronavirus, but we also don’t want to forget about the smokers who were already being targeted by the tobacco industry with deadly cigarettes and losing their lives from their powerful addictions.

We need to take this time to encourage any and every person who smokes to quit for good, starting now. 1-800-QUIT-NOW remains open for all! Smokers are more likely to have severe COVID-19 symptoms if they contract the coronavirus, and the act of bringing their hands to their mouths to smoke is not in line with current WHO and CDC recommendations for preventative measures. So, the work in front of us is only expanding.

Please consider making a donation to ASH to keep our crucial, life-saving work underway. In return, we will continue to share the best resources and facts out there. Thank you!