July News and Research Roundup

Disparities, E-Cigarettes, Endgame, FDA, Flavors (including Menthol), Licensing, oral nicotine products, Product Availability, Retailer Density, Youth

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

Oral Nicotine Pouches 

  • Prevalence of Nicotine Pouch Use Among US Adults, JAMA 
    • A recent study from the Keck School of Medicine of USC and the University of Nebraska Medical Center used data from the Current Population Survey Tobacco Use Supplement in September 2022 to analyze nicotine pouch use in a nationally representative sample of 39,557 U.S. adults. Despite a 641% increase in sales of the products between 2019 and 2022, the study found that only 2.9% of adults had ever used nicotine pouches, with 0.4% reporting current use.“The low prevalence of nicotine pouch use in adults surprised us, given the rapid increase in sales,” said study coauthor Adam Matthew Leventhal, PhD, a professor in the department of population and public health sciences at the Keck School of Medicine and executive director of the USC Institute for Addiction Science. “But it’s also possible that the sales are being diverted to adolescents, who were not represented in this survey.” The FDA is currently reviewing “premarket” applications form leading nicotine pouch manufacturers.
    • Learn more about oral nicotine products at the point of sale. 

E-Cigarettes

  • Pac-Man on a vape: electronic cigarettes that target youth as handheld multimedia and gaming devices, Tobacco Control
    • This correspondence to Dr. Prue Talbot, Department of Molecular, Cell,and Systems Biology at the University of California Riverside discusses emerging electronic cigarette devices being turned into functional gaming devices. These devices feature high-definition displays with various built-in games such as Pac-Man, Tetris, and more. One device with these games can be purchased for $17.95 from US retailers and online as of May 2024. Additionally, some devices have smartphone-like features such as Bluetooth, voice recognition, and customizable displays. One device, the URSA POCKET from Lost Vape, features a game called ‘Virtual Pet’ where users collect coins by vaping and use the coins to level up their pet. This device is available in the US for $37.99. These emerging ‘smart vapes’ reinforce the use and purchase of these products and may broaden the electronic cigarette market to youth with no previous interest by preying on three potential addictions: nicotine dependence, gaming disorder, and screen time obsession. 
    • Learn more about youth targeting at the point of sale

Health Equity

  • Neighbourhood inequities in the availability of retailers selling tobacco products: a systematic review, Tobacco Control
    • A systematic review of 58 publications and synthesis of 41 studies (2002 – 2022)  explored neighborhood disparities in tobacco retailer availability (TRA) across six high-income countries. The study highlighted significant place-based inequities in TRA related to socio-economic status (SES), ethnicity, and race, which in turn may contribute to ongoing disparities in exposure to tobacco marketing, tobacco use, and tobacco related illness and death. Neighborhoods with higher populations of Black and Hispanic/Latino residents saw greater TRA. Of the 124 effect sizes that included a measure of SES, 81.5% documented greater TRA in areas with lower SES. Suggested interventions to reduce TRA as stated by the authors include limiting types of retailers that can sell tobacco, restricting retailer location, and limiting the number of licensed retailers in a given area. However, health equity assessments are critical in ensuring equitable interventions.
    • Learn more about health equity and point of sale tobacco control policy
  • Opportunities for advancing science to inform tobacco regulation in an evolving tobacco landscape, Molecular Psychiatry
    • This article discusses opportunities in four distinct areas for further research to inform the regulation of tobacco products. Area one includes examining the diverse landscape of tobacco products, specifically e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products, and nicotine pouches, and their addiction potential and health impacts. Area two looks at continued surveillance of tobacco-related disparities as related to both product use and policy implementation and enforcement. Area three calls for further evaluation of international, state, and local policies on tobacco product standards. Area four highlights the importance of a coordinated effort to dispel misinformation and ensure access to accurate information about tobacco products and their health consequences. 

New Reports and Resources 

Industry News

POS Policy in the Media

Menthol and Other Flavored Tobacco Products

Licensing, Zoning, and Retailer Density 

E-Cigarettes

Tobacco 21

Endgame

Federal Regulation

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!

Posted July 30, 2024

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