Dozens of Clergy Gather in Brooklyn as Momentum to Restrict Flavored Tobacco Sales Grows - PHOTO ATTACHED

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Rev. Robert M. Waterman talks to clergy, parents and kids iin Brooklyn on Saturday about the dangers of flavored tobacco products.

BROOKLYN, NY (10/13/2019) (readMedia)-- Dozens of Brooklyn clergy members gathered on Saturday to discuss the harmful effects of flavored tobacco products as support for City Council legislation to restrict the sale of menthol cigarettes and flavored e-cigarettes grows in New York.

Dr. Rev. Robert M. Waterman, president of the African American Clergy and Elected Official Coalition (AACEO), hosted the Brooklyn breakfast to draw attention to the flavored tobacco crisis and mobilize faith leaders to help pass two City Council bills supported by the NAACP, national health organizations and local groups that would restrict the sale of all flavored tobacco products, including e-cigarettes and menthol cigarettes. Both bills now have the support of more than half the City Council.

"In New York City, 85 percent of menthol cigarette smokers are black-and Big Tobacco is the reason why," said Rev. Dr. Robert Waterman. "Big Tobacco has ruthlessly targeted our communities in New York for years, and it continues to every day. Smoking-related illness is the largest cause of preventable death for black people. Restricting the sale of menthol cigarettes is long overdue - let's get it done for the health of our community and the future of our children."

Menthol has been shown to be more addictive than regular cigarettes because it is less harsh than regular tobacco. African-American cigarette smokers are nearly 11-times more likely to use menthol cigarettes than white smokers. In New York City alone, 85% of black smokers use menthol compared to only 23% of white smokers.

More than 80% of kids who have used tobacco started with a flavored product like menthol, bubblegum or cotton candy.

In the past few months, hundreds of people across the country were hospitalized for vaping-related illnesses and 28 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."

Last month, Governor Cuomo issued a temporary emergency regulation to ban all flavored e-cigarettes, including menthol--but a State court delayed it from going in to effect.

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