BREAKING: Flavors Hook Kids NYC Responds to JUUL's Suspension of Flavored E-Cigarettes

NEW YORK, NY (10/17/2019) (readMedia)-- Today, JUUL announced it will suspend sales of some of its e-cigarette flavors after public outcry and concern over vaping products and their affects on children. JUUL, however, will continue to sell a flavor that is extremely popular with underage vapers: menthol. In response, André M. Richardson, campaign manager of the Flavors Hook Kids NYC campaign, issued the following statement:

"The decision today by Juul to restrict flavored products leaves two of the most popular flavors - menthol and mint - on the market and does little to prevent Big Tobacco from continuing to hook kids on nicotine. The only way to guarantee New York's kids are protected from Big Tobacco and a lifetime of addiction is by passing Intros 1345 and 1362 to restrict the sale of all flavored tobacco products, permanently."

BACKGROUND:

In the past few months, at least 450 people across the country were hospitalized for vaping-related illnesses and at least 26 people have died. In New York, the state Department of Health issued a warning about e-cigarette use, citing multiple cases of "severe pulmonary disease" among patients "who reported recent use of vape products." Governor Cuomo issued a temporary emergency regulation that would ban all flavored e-cigarettes, including menthol--but it was recently slowed down by a State Court.

New FDA survey data show youth use of e-cigarettes skyrocketed 135% in the last two years, and 5 million middle and high school students nationwide now use e-cigarettes. Last month, the Department of Health released data that shows 1 in 15 NYC middle school students reported using e-cigarettes and 14.4% of middle school students (about 29,000 students) had ever tried e-cigarettes.

Big Tobacco has also aggressively marketed flavored tobacco products to underage users for decades to hook new generations of smokers--particularly in communities of color, where menthol cigarettes are sold to young people, creating disproportionately negative health outcomes for African Americans.

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.

The coalition is pushing for the passage of Intro. 1345 - a restriction of the sale of menthol cigarettes - and Intro. 1362 - a restriction of the sale of flavored e-cigarettes. Nearly half of NYC Council members support both bills.