Welcome to CounterTobacco.org’s latest installment of the “News and Research Roundup!” Each month we’ll be posting a summary of the latest research, reports, and news stories on counteracting tobacco product sales and marketing at the point of sale (POS). Keeping up with what’s happening in the POS movement all across the country can help you choose policies and strategies that work best for your community. New research can help provide support for your work and evidence for the importance of the “War in the Store.” Have a story you don’t want us to miss? E-mail it to us!

New Research

• New e-issue of Tobacco Control, all about POS tobacco control and the retail environment!
  • Editorial: The retail environment for tobacco:  a barometer of progress towards the endgame
• Tobacco Control and Prevention in Oklahoma: Best Practices in a Preemptive State, American Journal of Preventive Medicine
• Addressing the Social Determinants of Health to Reduce Tobacco-Related Disparities, Nicotine & Tobacco Research
  • Policies and programs can help eliminate tobacco-related disparities by changing how and where tobacco products are sold to make them less appealing and accessible and changing the social norms around tobacco use, making its use seem less acceptable. However, these policies and programs must be implemented equitably across populations groups. Read more about tobacco-related disparities at the point of sale.
• Public support for raising the age of sale for tobacco to 21 in the  United States, Tobacco Control
  • News story: Most Americans support raising tobacco sales age to 21, Rueters 
• Concentration of tobacco advertisements at SNAP and WIC stores, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2012, Preventing Chronic Disease 
  • This study found a a greater density of tobacco retail outlets with exterior tobacco advertisements in high poverty areas, and SNAP and WIC vendors were found to be more likely than other tobacco outlets to display both exterior and interior advertisements. Read more about disparities in POS tobacco advertising and policy solutions to restrict tobacco advertising.
• Crowdsourcing data collection of the retail tobacco environment: case study comparing data from crowdsourced workers to training data collectors, Tobacco Control
  • You can collect your own data on what stores near you are selling with STARS, the Standardized Tobacco Assessment for Retail Settings.

 Youth

• Tobacco Retail Outlet Density and Young Adult Tobacco Initiation, Nicotine and Tobacco Research
  • This study found 18-24 year olds were three times more likely to have tried non-cigarette combustible tobacco products for the first time if they lived in an area with greater tobacco retail outlet density. The greater the density of tobacco retailers, the more likely both 18-24 year olds and 25-34 year olds were to have tried cigarettes for the first time in the past six months. Read more about licensing and zoning policies as ways to restrict tobacco outlet density.
• Oklahoma’s Youth-Driven Tobacco Policy Campaigns: Assessment of Impacts and Lessons Learned, American Journal of Preventive Medicine
  • With appropriate training, time, and useful materials, youth-driven tobacco policy campaigns can be an effective way to support the passage of local laws as well as engage youth in tobacco control.
  • Find interactive activities to engage youth in addressing tobacco In their communities.
• Cigarette price variation around high school: evidence from Washington DC, Health & Place
  • This Washington D.C. study found that cigarette prices were lower at tobacco retail outlets near public and public charter high schools than they were at tobacco retail outlets near private high schools.
  • Read more about how the tobacco industry targets price-sensitive youth at stores near schools.
• Youth Tobacco Product Use in the United States, Pediatrics
  • This study found twice the number of youth are using multiple tobacco products than using cigarettes alone. Dual use was also greater among males, those with nicotine dependence, and those with greater receptivity to tobacco marketing.
  • News story: Teen tobacco users likely to use it in multiple forms, Reuters
• Prevalence of cigarette advertising and other promotional strategies the the point of sale in St. Louis, Missouri: analysis by store type and distance from a school, Preventing Chronic Disease
  • This study highlights the widespread prevalence of point of sale advertising for tobacco products, including prominent displays and multi-pack and promotional discounts. Read more about why this high prevalence of tobacco advertising at stores near schools matters.

Plain Packaging and Health Warnings

• Commentary: Use and abuse of statistics in tobacco industry-funded research on standardized packaging, Tobacco Control
• Reactions to FDA-Proposed Graphic Warning Labels Affixed to U.S. Smokers’ Cigarette Packs, Nicotine and Tobacco Research
  • This mixed-methods, week-long study examined the effects of real-world exposure to cigarette warning labels among smokers and found that smokers paid more attention to and more easily recalled graphic warning labels than all-text warning labels, although some individual graphic warning labels were more effective than others. Researchers suggest that graphic images that encourage smokers to think about their own health and that discourage without increasing reactance could be most effective.
  • Read more about POS Health Warnings.
• Plain cigarette packs do not exert Pavlovian to instrumental transfer of control over tobacco-seeking, Addiction
  • News Story: The Way A Cigarette Is Packaged Can Make A World of Difference, Huffington Post
• Visual attention to health warnings on plain tobacco packaging in adolescent smokers and non-smokers, Addiction
  • This study indicates that by removing branding, plain packaging may increase the attention paid to health warning labels on cigarette packs. Read more about POS health warnings and ways to implement them.
  • News story: Plain Cigarette Packs May Deter Smokers, Studies Show, TIME
• Compliance with minimum price and legal age for cigarette purchase laws: evidence from NYC in advance of raising purchase age to 21, Tobacco Control
  • This study suggests that more active monitoring may be necessary to enforce the new minimum legal purchase age of 21 in NYC.
  • News story: Study finds lack of ID checks for buying cigarettes in NYC, Eurekalert
• Cigarette packaging and health warnings: the impact of plain packaging and message framing on young smokers, Tobacco Control
  • This study found that FDA-proposed warnings about lung disease, cancer, and smoking-related mortality influenced young adult smoker’s motivation to quit more than warnings about heart disease and stroke. Additionally, the researchers found that on plain packs of cigarettes, gain-framed messages about the benefits of quitting smoking produced more cessation motivation than loss-framed messages.
• Promoting cessation resources through cigarette package warning labels: A longitudinal survey with adult smokers in Canada, Australia and Mexico, Tobacco Control
• No place to hide: two pilot studies assessing the effectiveness of adding a health warning to the cigarette stick, Tobacco Control

New Reports

• What everyone needs to know about e-cigarettes, WHO
• “Hot spots” the FCA is watching this year, FCTC
  • Many of these “hot spots” are places with on-going point of sale policy disputes or newly proposed point of sale policies.
• Available Evidence Suggests That Possible Regulation of Cigarettes Not Likely to Significantly Change U.S. Illicit Tobacco Market, National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine

Industry News

• Shareholders OK tobacco firm Reynolds’ deal to buy Lorillard, Associated Press
• $2 Billion E-Cigarette Industry Unleashes Lobbying Blitz to Limit Taxes and Regulation, AllGov.com
• House Bill to Exempt Premium Cigars from FDA Control Returns in New Congress, HalfWheel
• FDA Panel to Review Application for ‘Modified Risk’ Tobacco, ABC News
• Raley’s Removes Tobacco: West Coast supermarket chain to stop selling cigarettes near anniversary of CVS move, CSPnet
• Reynolds American Delving Deeper into Nicotine Gum Business, Winston Salem Journal
• Swisher Forms E-Cigarette, Vapor Company, CSPnet

POS Policy in the Media

• Tobacco sale ban for US campus shops, BBC News
• Working Toward a Tobacco-Free Generation: 51 Years of Progress, US DHHS Blog
• Congress Should Back President Obama’s Tobacco Tax Plan – It Will Protect Kids, Save Lives and Cut Health Care Costs, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
• Tobacco placement targets teens in county, Hermiston Herald
• CVS Health Kicks Smoking Habit and Still Has Record Sales, Forbes
• Watch John Oliver’s Epic Takedown of the Tobacco Industry, Rolling Stone
• Phillip Morris Does Horrible Job of Defending Itself After John Oliver Mocking, Consumerist
• Will the FDA Ever Get Around to New Warning Labels for Cigarettes? Consumerist

Tobacco Retail Licensing

• Saratoga: Council considers establishing a tobacco retailer licensing ordinance, Mercury News
• Sonoma outlines restrictions sought for tobacco ordinance, The Press Democrat
• Newburgh approves fees for tobacco retailers, Times Herald-Record
• Northern California City Takes Action to Curb Youth Smoking, ChangeLab Solutions

E-Cigarettes

• Do e-cigarettes break the hold of Big Tobacco or condemn kids to addiction?, CBS News
• Some Kids Use Tobacco, E-Cigarettes Together, Study Finds, US News & World Report
• States racing to regulate e-cigarettes, USA Today
• Juneau Assembly approves big hike in local tobacco taxes; e-cigarettes also covered, Juneau Empire

Tobacco 21

• Legislation would raise smoking age in California from 18 to 21,  LA Times
• Why Teens Are Impulsive, Addiction-Prone And Should Protect Their Brains, NPR
• Cambridge increases tobacco purchase age to 21; bans e-cigs from restaurants, Wicked Local
• Utah lawmaker revives proposal to raise smoking age, Associated Press
• Bill would make Rhode Island 1^st state to raise legal age for purchasing tobacco to 21,Providence Journal
• Waltham raises tobacco-buying age, Wicked Local
• Legislature Mulls Raising Smoking Age to 21, Vermont Public Radio
• South Hadley bans sale of tobacco to anyone under 21, WSHM Springfield

Find more stories in last month’s News and Research Roundup.

Know of a story that we missed? Email us, and we’ll be sure to include it in next month’s roundup!