Rep. Meeks + 60 Clergy Members Back NYC Flavored Tobacco Ban

NEW YORK, NY (10/28/2019) (readMedia)-- Today, Rep. Gregory Meeks and 60 clergy members added their names to the growing list of supporters backing New York City Council Intros. 1345 and 1362, which would restrict the sale of menthol cigarettes and ban the sale of flavored e-cigarettes. Most of the City Council and more than 100 organizations now support the legislation, as well as city leaders such as former Mayor David Dinkins and NAACP New York Chapter President Hazel Dukes. Meeks is the first NYC congressmember to support the bills.

"Flavored tobacco products have been used by tobacco companies for decades to hook our kids on nicotine-especially in communities of color," Rep. Meeks said. "In particular, tobacco companies have aggressively marketed menthol cigarettes - which are easier to start smoking and harder to quit - to African-American communities, leading to disastrous health outcomes. And now Big Tobacco has a new weapon in its arsenal to hook kids: flavored e-cigarettes. The "vaping" crisis is out of control and creating a new generation of nicotine addicts right here in New York. To protect our kids and our communities against the dangers of menthol cigarettes and flavored e-cigarettes, the Council must pass Intros. 1345 and 1362 as soon as possible."

In a separate letter addressed to the New York City Council, 60 clergy members -- including Rev. Dr. Robert M. Waterman and Pastor Gwen Dingle -- from across the city announced their support for the two pieces of legislation.

"Our communities are suffering from an epidemic: hundreds of teens -- and adults -- puffing on menthol cigarettes and flavored e-cigarettes," the clergy wrote in the letter. "This should come as no surprise, Big Tobacco swooped into our neighborhoods decades ago, targeting black and Latino communities with menthol cigarette advertisements and slick marketing campaigns. Before flavored e-cigarettes, there was menthol, the original tobacco flavor."

The full letter is attached.

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.

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 tried e-cigarettes.

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.

About Flavors Hook Kids NYC

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.