Los Angeles City Council Moves to End Sale of Flavored Tobacco Products; Action Will Advance Health Equity and Save Lives
Statement of Matthew L. Myers, President, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
WASHINGTON, D.C. – By voting to support ending the sale of flavored tobacco products, the Los Angeles City Council today took a critical step forward to protect kids from tobacco addiction, advance health equity and save lives, especially among its Black residents. The Council’s action is the right move to stop the tobacco industry from addicting a new generation of kids and reversing the enormous progress we have made in reducing youth tobacco use.
The Council voted unanimously (14-0) to direct the city attorney to draft a strong ordinance to end the sale of flavored tobacco products, including flavored e-cigarettes, menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars. We urge the Council to finalize this policy promptly.
We strongly applaud Council Members Nury Martinez, Mitch O’Farrell, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Mark Ridley-Thomas, Paul Krekorian and Mike Bonin for their leadership in protecting the health of LA’s kids and promoting health equity. The Council’s action will crack down on the tobacco industry’s most pernicious tactic for luring and addicting kids – the marketing of flavored products. And it will help end the industry’s predatory targeting of Black communities with menthol cigarettes – a form of institutional racism that has taken a devastating toll on Black lives and health, is a major cause of health disparities, and must be stopped once and for all.
We are disappointed that the Council directed that the ordinance language exempt certain hookah products to be sold in some establishments. To best protect public health, we strongly urge the adoption of comprehensive legislation that ends the sale of all flavored tobacco products in all locations.
Flavored products have fueled the current epidemic of youth e-cigarette use, with more than 30% of LA County high school students having tried e-cigarettes. Nationally, 3.6 million kids use e-cigarettes, with a growing percentage of them using e-cigarettes frequently or daily – a sure sign of addiction. We know that 83% of youth e-cigarette users use flavored products.
Flavored products have long been a favorite tobacco industry strategy for targeting kids, Black Americans, the LGBTQ community and other communities. Half of all kids who ever try smoking start with menthol cigarettes. The evidence shows that menthol makes it easier for kids to start smoking and harder for smokers to quit. Because of the tobacco industry’s predatory marketing, 85% of Black smokers now smoke menthol cigarettes, compared to less than 10% in the 1950s. Menthol cigarettes are a major reason why tobacco use is the number one cause of preventable death among Black Americans – claiming 45,000 Black lives every year – and why Black Americans have a harder time quitting smoking and are more likely to die from tobacco-related diseases like lung cancer, heart disease and stroke.
In addition, cheap, flavored cigars – sold in hundreds of flavors like banana smash, cherry dynamite and chocolate – have flooded the market in recent years and fueled the popularity of these products with kids. According to the 2020 National Youth Tobacco Survey, cigars are now the most popular tobacco product among Black high school students and the second most popular tobacco product, after e-cigarettes, among all high school students.
LA is seeking to join over 100 cities and counties across California that have cracked down on flavored tobacco products. California acted in 2020 to end the sale of flavored tobacco products, but the law is on hold because of a tobacco industry effort to overturn it through a November 2022 referendum. We applaud the LA City Council for standing up to the tobacco industry and taking action to protect kids and save lives.