Tobacco Kills NY: "JUUL Settlement Proves Menthol Ban Necessary to Prevent Big Tobacco From Hooking Kids"

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ALBANY, NY (04/12/2023) (readMedia)-- In response to breaking news that New York State Attorney General James settled with JUUL for aggressively marketing flavored tobacco products to young people, Rev. Kirsten John Foy, a member of the Tobacco Kills NY Coalition, put out the following statement:

"We applaud Attorney General James' recent settlement with JUUL, confirming what we know: Big Tobacco targets children to get them hooked on a substance that will kill them. Now, lawmakers must end the sale of menthol cigarettes - which are more addictive and harder to quit and Big Tobacco's most deadly tool - here in New York. We know this product is predatorily marketed and sold to Black and brown communities intentionally. Three years ago, lawmakers acted quickly to get all flavored vapes off the shelves – including menthol - because they targeted white kids. Now, they're dragging their feet when it comes to the products that have targeted Black and brown kids for 50 years. Every day we don't do anything, hundreds more children get hooked on nicotine by starting to smoke with the flavored products. Inaction in this case is negative action. Ban menthol."

BACKGROUND

Tobacco Kills NY is a diverse, statewide campaign of civil rights and health advocates, including the New York NAACP, faith-leaders, public health groups, and others.

Last week, the coalition called out the New York State Legislature today in dramatic, full-page ads in newspapers across the state. The six-figure buy in support of Governor Hochul's historic proposal to ban the sale of all flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes, reads "It's time to choose: Profits for Big Tobacco or the lives of our children". Ad is attached.

The NYC Health Department estimates that if the sale of menthol tobacco products were ended now, 90,000 New Yorkers would quit smoking over the next two years, the majority being Black and Latino adults-and 1,500 young New Yorkers will not start smoking each year who would have otherwise. One-third to half of those young people who would smoke would die from a smoking-related illness if they smoked long-term.

A recent poll from Siena College showed a significant majority of New Yorkers surveyed were in favor of the proposed ban on menthol-flavored tobacco products, with 57% in favor versus 35% against. New Yorkers are also in favor of a one-dollar tax increase on cigarettes, with only a third of respondents against the measure, according to the poll. Additionally, a poll conducted by Global Strategy Group paid for by Tobacco Kills NY showed that three-out-of-five Black and Latino New Yorkers support a ban on menthol-flavored tobacco products.

The proposed ban was recently endorsed by the Daily News Editorial Board. And as bill sponsor AM Rodneyse Bichotte wrote in the Daily News, Black smokers die of smoking-related diseases at a disproportionate rate. NYC Council Member Rita Joseph also wrote in the Daily News that 90 percent of Black teenagers who smoke use menthol cigarettes.

New York State made great strides to prevent youth tobacco use by restricting the sale of flavored e-cigarettes in 2020–but the new regulations still allowed other dangerous flavored tobacco products known to increase addiction to continue to be sold. Menthol cigarettes, which are much easier to smoke and more addictive than regular tobacco, are still available on shelves and the number one way Big Tobacco hooks young smokers and keeps Black New Yorkers addicted.

For generations, Big Tobacco has aggressively marketed flavored tobacco products to underage users and communities of color, creating disproportionately negative health outcomes for African-Americans in particular. In New York State, menthol cigarettes are used by over half of all adult smokers (52%). 86% of Black smokers and 72% of Hispanic smokers smoke menthols. Now 62% of Americans support a ban on menthol, including two-thirds of Black Americans. Half of young people (ages 12-17) who had ever tried smoking start with menthol cigarettes. In 2021, 41.1% of high school smokers reported using menthol cigarettes.