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Megan Arendt-Manning
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ASH Welcomes Protection from Flavored Tobacco Products in California
WASHINGTON, DC – NOVEMBER 9, 2022 – Yesterday, Californians voted in favor of protecting our children from flavored tobacco products. After two years of delayed implementation because of tobacco industry interference, California is finally able to enforce its law which already passed the legislature in August 2020 and was signed by Governor Newsom. California is now the biggest state to act on flavored tobacco products, and we hope the FDA follows suit soon.
Known as Prop 31 and SB-793, this law ends the sale of all flavored e-cigarettes, menthol cigarettes, and most other flavored tobacco products.
“Delayed implementation of this crucial law allowed tobacco companies to earn $1.1 billion in revenue while 37,000 youth tried candy-flavored tobacco products,” said Laurent Huber, Executive Director of Action on Smoking and Health, a national organization supporting cutting-edge solutions to the tobacco epidemic. “We are pleased to see Californians finally receive the protection they and all children deserve from tobacco companies’ aggressive and deadly tactics.”
Through the implementation of SB-793, California becomes the second state in the U.S. to pass a law prohibiting the sale of flavored tobacco products. Jurisdictions are working to remove flavors from tobacco products because flavors play a crucial role in youth and young adult use of addictive and deadly tobacco products.
Four out of five kids who have used tobacco started with a flavored product. And, 80% of youth tobacco users report using a flavored product in the past month.
Restricting the sale of flavored tobacco products is crucial to protect children from the unrelenting efforts of the tobacco industry to hook them with a deadly addiction. And today, that protection begins for California’s youth.
ACTION ON SMOKING AND HEALTH
Founded in 1967, Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) is America’s oldest anti-tobacco organization, dedicated to a world with ZERO tobacco deaths. Because tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death worldwide, ASH supports bold solutions proportionate to the magnitude of the problem. ash.org
