BP Adams Hosts Emergency Round Table w/ Parents, Kids, etc to Discuss Dangers of Flavored Tobacco

BROOKLYN, NY (09/25/2019) (readMedia)-- Yesterday, Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams hosted an emergency round table with health experts, clergy members, NYCHA Tenant Association leaders, children and parents on the dangers of flavored tobacco products in New York City. There are currently two bills in the NYC Council - Intro. 1362 (Cabrera) and Intro. 1345 (Levine) - which together would restrict the sale of all flavored tobacco products, including e-cigarettes and menthol cigarettes.

"Companies have long used flavored products to hook our youth on things that make them less healthy. We know that flavored tobacco products can dramatically increase children's risk of life-threatening illnesses. We must ensure the well-being of our young people, which is why I was so glad to host this roundtable at Borough Hall to hear from a variety of stakeholders. I look forward to continuing this dialogue," said Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams.

"New York City must now take immediate action to protect our kids from all forms of flavored tobacco products, including menthol-flavored e-cigarettes and cigarettes, and all other flavored e-cigarettes and cigars. No tobacco products should taste like menthol, mint or candy. The Council must immediately act to pass Intros 1345 and 1362. Our coalition will not stop until kids are protected from all flavored tobacco products in New York," said Andre Richardson, Campaign Manager for Flavors Hook Kids NYC.

Last week, Governor Cuomo announced a temporary ban on flavored e-cigarettes-but did not include menthol. Flavored tobacco products make vaping and smoking easier and quitting harder--especially menthol-flavored products. Over half of youth smokers smoke a menthol-flavored tobacco product. Studies have shown that the tobacco industry has targeted African American communities with menthol marketing, in particular.

The federal government banned all flavored cigarette products a decade ago, but exempted menthol cigarettes, allowing the product to remain popular with youth. Since then, youth smokers turned from previous flavors to mint and menthol. According to newly-released data from the 2019 National Youth Tobacco Survey (2019 NYTS), the percentage of high school e-cigarette users who reported using mint and menthol flavors increased to 63.9% in 2019 from 42.3% in 2017 and 51.2% in 2018.

"Year after year, data collected by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene have shown extremely high smoking rates among Asians in New York City, particularly among Asian men. We support the Flavors Hook Kids Campaign because we must do everything in our power to ensure that future generations do not become addicted to smoking through e-cigarettes or any other form of flavored tobacco," said President and CEO Jane Eng of the Charles B. Wang Community Health Center.

"As a long-time leader on tobacco-use prevention, New York City must set an example for others to follow by banning the sale of menthol cigarettes," says Lisa David, president and CEO of Public Health Solutions. "If we ban menthol flavors here, we will be encouraging hundreds of thousands more smokers across the country to quit, and in doing so we can prevent unnecessary illnesses and deaths locally and nationally."

"PAVe understands flavors do not discriminate. They just hook our kids. We are so pleased to stand with the Borough President Eric Adams on this important legislation to ban all flavors of tobacco products. We will not let our children become the next generation of nicotine addicts so that Juul and its copycats can profit," said Mimi Boublik, Parents Against Vaping E-cigarettes.

"We must do all that we can to reduce tobacco use if we are going to prevent more lives from being lost to cancer in Brooklyn and across New York City," said Michael Davoli, Director of Government Relations, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN). "While smoking rates are now at historic lows –smoking accounts for about 30% of all cancer deaths, including about 80% of all lung cancer deaths and about half of all Americans who keep smoking will die because of the habit. We know how to prevent many cancers if only our city and state leaders have the political will to stand up to Big Tobacco beginning with restricting all flavored tobacco including menthol cigarettes."

New FDA survey data show youth use of e-cigarettes skyrocketed 135% in the last two years, and that 5 million middle and high school students nationwide now use e-cigarettes. In New York, 27.4% of high school students use e-cigarettes, compared to 4.8% who smoke cigarettes.

This summer, there have been at least 450 people across the country who were hospitalized for vaping-related illnesses and six people have died. In New York, the state Department of Health recently issued a warning about e-cigarette use, citing multiple cases of "severe pulmonary disease" among patients "who reported recent use of vape products."

Flavors Hook Kids NYC -- a coalition of more than one hundred health, religious, parent and community organizations -- is an all-out effort to restrict the sale of all flavored tobacco products in New York City, including e-cigarette flavors and menthol cigarettes, before 2020.

Members of the growing coalition are: Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, NAACP, Parents Against Vaping e-cigarettes (PAVe), African American Clergy and Elected Official organization (AACEO), American Cancer Society Action Network (ACS CAN), New York Communities for Change, American Cancer Society Action Network, the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council NAATPN, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, Neighbors in Action, Last Call Church, United Concerned Citizens, NYPIRG, Bishop Courtenay of Emmanuel Church of God in Brooklyn, Arthur Ashe Institute Public Health, among others. The list is in formation.