Coalition to Stop Flavored Tobacco Responds to NYC Council Postponement of Action on Menthol Bill

NEW YORK, NY (11/21/2019) (readMedia)-- Flavors Hook Kids NYC – a coalition of more than 100 health, religious, parent and community organizations and city leaders – responded today to news that the City Council will vote on legislation to eliminate the sale of flavored e-cigarettes in New York, but will not vote to restrict the sale of menthol cigarettes, at its next full meeting on November 26th:

"We are disappointed in the decision on Tuesday to address only a portion of a serious threat to our children," said André M. Richardson, Campaign Manager of Flavors Hook Kids NYC. "Big Tobacco's sinister use of flavors is hooking our kids on nicotine at a terrifying rate, and we strongly encourage the Council to eliminate all flavor sales in New York outright – both in tobacco and e-cigarette form. It is critical that action be taken to reverse the youth nicotine addiction epidemic, but Big Tobacco's war against our children and communities of color will not be won until all of Big Tobacco's weapons are taken away-and that includes menthol cigarettes, which have been used to addict underage and African-American New Yorkers to nicotine for decades. The Council must also restrict the sale of menthol cigarettes by year's end to finish the job."

There are two pieces of legislation pending in the City Council, Intros 1345 and 1362, which would restrict the sale of menthol cigarettes and ban the sale of flavored e-cigarettes. Each bill is important; each bill has broad support in the Council and among the public; and each bill deserves immediate action. More than two-thirds of the City Council support legislation to restrict the sale of menthol cigarettes. Nearly as many members support the legislation to eliminate the sale of flavored e-cigarettes. Big Tobacco has 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.

In addition to the local and national organizations now supporting the legislation, city leaders such as former Mayor David Dinkins, NAACP New York Chapter President Hazel Dukes, NYC First Lady Chirlane McCray and Congressman Gregory Meeks also back the bills. The de Blasio Administration also supports both pieces of legislation.

Governor Andrew Cuomo issued a temporary emergency regulation a few months ago that would ban all flavored e-cigarettes, including menthol-but it has been indefinitely blocked by a State Court. President Donald Trump announced he would also ban flavored e-cigarettes earlier this year-but there are now reports that he has reversed that decision. Although the Tobacco Product Scientific Advisory Council recommended to the FDA in 2011 that "banning menthol cigarettes would benefit public health", the FDA has taken no action to do so. The time for NYC to address all flavored tobacco products is now.

Members of the Flavors Hook Kids NYC coalition include: Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, NY 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.