Welcome to CounterTobacco.org’s “News and Research Roundup!” Each month we post 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 

• Young adult non-smokers’ exposure to real-world tobacco marketing: results of an ecological momentary assessment pilot study, BMC Research Notes
  • This study assessed momentary exposure to tobacco marketing among a group of 31 non-smoking young adults ages 18-25 and found that participants reported two momentary exposures on average over the course of a two-week period. However, exposure rates were three times higher among African-American participants and five times higher among Hispanic participants compared with white participants. Participants were also 15 times more likely to report exposure to tobacco marketing while in a store compared to when at home.
• Podcast: The changing nicotine products landscape: time to outlaw sales of combustible tobacco products, Tobacco Control
  • This podcast discusses the “endgame” strategy of phasing out the sale of combustible tobacco products.

    

• Marijuana as a ‘concept’ flavor for cigar products: availability and price near California schools, Tobacco Control
  • About 62% of tobacco retailers near middle and high schools in California that sold little cigars/cigarillos had at least one form of marijuana co-marketing. Specifically, 53.2% of stores sold cigar wraps marketed as blunt wraps, 27.2% sold cigarillos marketed as blunts, and 26% sold at least one little cigar/cigarillo with a “marijuana” flavor. This type of co-marketing were more prevalent a in neighborhoods with more residents ages 5-17 and in lower income neighborhoods. While 87.9% of stores sold little cigars/cigarillos for less than $1, stores near schools in lower-income neighborhoods and neighborhoods with a lower percentage of Hispanic students were more likely to sell them in packs of 5 or 6, still for less than $1. Researchers conclude that this provides evidence in support of minimum prices for mulitpacks of little cigars/cigarillos.
  • Learn more about minimum pricing strategies.
• A missing voice: the human rights of children to a tobacco-free environment, Tobacco Control
• Public Knowledge and Credibility Perceptions of the FDA as a Tobacco Regulator, Nicotine & Tobacco Research
  • A nationally representative survey of US adults found that only 46.8% of participants knew that the FDA regulates how cigarettes are sold, 49.7% knew that the FDA regulates how cigarettes are advertised, and 36% knew that the FDA regulates how cigarettes are made. Overall, participants viewed the FDA as moderately credible. While knowledge about the FDA as a tobacco regulator did not vary much by demographic group, knowledge of the FDA as a tobacco regulator and trust in government were the greatest predictors of viewing the FDA as credible. In addition, participants who were younger, white, and male were more likely to view the FDA as credible. These results indicate that increasing knowledge of the FDA’s role in regulating tobacco may also improve views of the agency’s credibility and improve how messages from the FDA are received.
• U.S. Adult Interest in Less Harmful and Less Addictive Hypothetical Modified Risk Tobacco Products, Nicotine & Tobacco Research
  • An analysis of data from the 2015 Health Information National Trends Survey found that about half of current smokers were “somewhat” or “very” likely to try hypothetical Modified Risk Tobacco Products (MRTP) that claim to be less harmful or less addictive. About a tenth of former and never smokers were interested in these products. More interest was shown from female smokers, former smokers with lower perceptions of smoking harm, and never smokers who are younger and have lower levels of education

E-Cigarettes 

• Should Flavors be Banned in E-cigarettes? Evidence on Adults Smokers and Recent Quitters from A Discrete Choice Experiment, National Bureau of Economic Research
• Effects of health-oriented descriptors on combustible cigarette and electronic cigarette packaging: an experiment among adult smokers in the United States, Tobacco Control
  • This study reinforces the effect of health-oriented descriptors (e.g. “100% organic, “all natural,” or “no additives”) compared with traditional descriptors (e.g. “fine quality,” “premium blend,” or “100% original”) for both cigarettes and e-cigarettes. Participants who viewed cigarette packs with health-oriented descriptors have more positive perceptions of the pack, viewed it as less harmful than the pack with traditional descriptors. Participants who viewed e-cigarettes with health-oriented descriptors reported greater intentions to purchase the e-cigarettes.
• Potential deaths averted in USA by replacing cigarettes with e-cigarettes, Tobacco Control
  • Study finds switching to e-cigs could save up to 6.6 million lives, Winston-Salem Journal  

Industry News 

• BAT ending very-low-nicotine cigarette partnership with 22^nd Century, Winston-Salem Journal
• Reynolds CEO Embraces FDA Challenge, CSP Daily News
• Reynolds Launches Newport Platinum, CSP Daily News
• Packaging, Marketing Makeover for National American Spirit Cigarettes, CSP Daily News
• blu Introduces ‘Something Better’ Campaign, Convenience Store Decisions

POS Policy in the Media 

National

• FDA tries again to find balance between corrective cigarette warnings statements and 1^st Amendment, Winston-Salem Journal
• FDA bans free samples of e-cigarettes, The Hill
• Schumer pushes for regulations on e-cigs as more kids vape, New York Post
• Cigarette-makers to run corrective ads on smoking danger starting in November, Winston-Salem Journal
• These U.S. States Still Smoke More Than Any Others, Bloomberg

Menthol and Other Flavored Tobacco Products

• Oakland bans flavored tobacco products, East Bay Times
• San Leandro bans flavored tobacco, Easy Bay Times
• St. Paul considers restricting sale of menthol tobacco, Star Tribune
• Dozens of alcohol-flavored tobacco products may lure teens, Reuters
• Letter: The targets of menthol cigarettes, Twin Cities Pioneer Press
• Activists want to ban single-serve alcohol and flavored tobacco in Richmond, Richmond Confidential
• Let’s ban all candy-flavored tobacco products | Janice Armstrong, The Philadelphia Inquirer
• Letters: What’s at stake with menthol tobacco? Lives, Twin Cities Pioneer Press

Tobacco 21 

• Parkville board raises age to purchase tobacco in the city, Platte County Citizen
• Easthampton, Mass. To Raise Tobacco Purchase Age to 21, Restrict Flavored Tobacco Sales, HalfWheel
• Cloud Considering Raising the Age to Buy Tobacco to 21, WJON
• In San Antonio, legality of tobacco use might climb to age 21, San Antonio Express News
• Richmond considers raising tobacco age to 21, banning menthol, flavors, Richmond Standard
• Retailers suffer, but officials say raising tobacco age decreases smoking, Chicago Tribune
• 21 reasons to pass Tobacco 21 in Vermont, Bennington Banner
• Springfield to consider raising minimum age for tobacco purchases to 21, Mass Live

Pricing

• The Fatal Toll of Cheap Cigarettes, New York Times
• Philip Morris USA plans 10-cent per pack increase in cigarettes, Winston-Salem Journal
• Interactive web tool shows potential impact of tobacco policies, Medical Xpress

Other

• Matt Myers: Philip Morris has a long history of funding what it calls independent research by previously credible researchers, The Cancer Letter
• Students Raise Awareness of Tobacco Marketing and Underage Smoking for “Seen Enough Tobacco Day,” WAER
• Elk Grove Village May Prohibit Stores From Selling Tobacco, CBS Chicago
• New hookah bars banned from opening in NYC, NY Daily News

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!