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

Tobacco Retailer Density

• Sociodemographic inequities in tobacco retailer density: Do neighboring places matter? Health and Place
  • This study analyzed the associations between racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic demographics on tobacco retailer density both within a census tract and within neighboring census tracts.  As the proportion of Black and Hispanic/Latino residents increased in a census tract, so did tobacco retailer density in both that tract and neighboring tracts. As the population of white residents in a census tract increased, tobacco retailer density in both that tract and neighboring tracts decreased. Researchers suggest that in order to better understand and address inequities, policymakers should examine how geographic areas are interconnected, consider the unjust historical factors that have created neighborhood segregation and now contribute to tobacco-related disparities, and design pro-equity policies accordingly.
  • Also see lead author Dr. Amanda Kong’s “tweetorial” about this paper and research findings.
  • Learn more about tobacco retailer density and health equity in point-of-sale policies.
• Associations of tobacco retailer density and proximity with adult tobacco use behaviors and health outcomes: a meta-analysis, Tobacco Control
  • A meta-analysis of 27 different studies assessing the relationship between tobacco retailer density and proximity and tobacco use behaviors found a 2.48% reduction in risk of tobacco use from reductions in tobacco retailer density and proximity. The relationship remained across differing measures of density and proximity and across countries.
  • News story: More, densely packed tobacco retailers make for less-healthy behaviors, ASPiRE Center

E-Cigarettes

• Young Adult E-cigarette Use and Retail Exposure in 6 US Metropolitan Areas, Tobacco Regulatory Science
  • A study of 3006 young adults across Atlanta, GA; Boston, MA; Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN; Oklahoma City, OK; San Diego, OK; and Seattle, WA found that over two-thirds of participants (68.6%) were exposed to e-cigarette advertising. Nearly three-quarters (72.9%) of participants who used e-cigarettes reported exposure to e-cigarette advertising. Vape shops were the most common place participants who used e-cigarettes reporting buying products (44.7%), followed by online (18.2%). Only 34.2% of participants who used e-cigarettes reported “almost always” being asked for age verification.
• Restricting the Sale of Electronic Nicotine Delivery System Flavors, Pediatrics
  • This advocacy case study of two potential bills restricting or banning the sale of flavored e-cigarette products found that, “strong partnerships with officials who had expertise in local town government, local American Academy of Pediatrics chapter physician champions, and a diverse coalition were instrumental in motivating smaller governments, which often pass legislation faster than larger legislatures, to create child-protective tobacco policies.”
  • View a video summarizing the study and findings here.

Menthol and Other Flavored Tobacco Products

• Public health impact of a US ban on menthol in cigarettes and cigars: a simulation study, Tobacco Control
  • A simulation assessing the impacts of a ban on the sale of menthol cigarettes and cigars starting in 2021 found such a policy would reduce smoking and vaping-attributable deaths by 650,000 by 2060 with a 15% decrease in overall smoking.
  • News Story: Menthol ban would save 650,000 lives in the next 40 years, University of Michigan News
• Brief report: Consequences of a match made in hell: the harm caused by menthol smoking to the African American population over 1980-2018, Tobacco Control
  • This report details how menthol cigarettes caused disproportionate smoking rates, smoking-related premature death, and life-years lost among African-Americans. While 12% of the US population is African-American, African-Americans account for 50% of the life-years lost and 41% of the premature deaths due to menthol.
• Editorial: What more evidence is needed? Remove menthol cigarettes from the marketplace- now, Tobacco Control

Other

• Synthetic nicotine has arrived, Tobacco Control
  • This article describes the chemistry behind synthetic nicotine, the metabolism and pharmacological effects, as well as the need for FDA regulation.
• Visual Attention to the Source Matters: Using Eye Tracking to Understand the FDA’s “Every Try Counts” Campaign Message Effectiveness, Nicotine & Tobacco Research
  • This analysis of visual attention to posters used in the FDA’s point-of-sale cessation campaign “Every Try Counts” found that “highlighting the FDA as a campaign sponsor in visual display may enhance the effectiveness of FDA tobacco education messages.”
• Estimated Prevalence of Smoking and Smoking-Attributable Mortality Associated With Graphic Health Warnings on Cigarette Packages in the US From 2022 – 2100, JAMA Health Forum
  • A simulation found that if graphic health warnings on cigarette packages had been implemented in 2012 (as originally planned by the FDA), 718,000 smoking-attributable deaths could have been avoided and 11.2 million life-years gained by 2100. However, if they are implemented in 2022 (as currently planned after many delays due to industry litigation and other factors), they could lead still lead to the avoidance of 539,000 smoking-attributable deaths and 7.9 million life-years gained by 2100.
  • News story: Graphic warning labels on cigarettes could have prevented hundreds of thousands of deaths, University of Michigan News

Industry News

• Q2 Survey: Cigarette Volumes Returning to Historical Trends, Convenience Store News
• Philip Morris International cigarettes can cause lung disease. Now the company wants to sell medicine to treat it, Washington Post
• NACS Calls on FDA for More PMTA Transparency, CSP Daily News

POS Policy in the Media

Menthol and Other Flavored Tobacco Products

• Eagle Rock students, educators urge LA City Council to ban flavored tobacco sales, News Nation USA
• Bangor would be 1^st in Maine to ban flavored tobacco sales, Bangor Daily News
• Skokie moves to ban sale of flavored vaping products, Chicago Tribune
• City Attorney urges LA City Council to include hookah in flavored tobacco ban, Spectrum News
• Goleta City Council Approves Flavored Tobacco Ban Ordinance, Santa Barbara Independent

Federal Regulation

• F.D.A. Delays Decision on Juul’s E-Cigarettes but Orders Others Off the Market, New York Times
• Some Vaping Companies Are Turning to Synthetic Nicotine to Outsmart the FDA, Time
• Vape makers struggle to stay in business after FDA bans flavored e-cigs, Politico
• FDA facing demands to snuff out Juul’s e-cigarettes, Press Herald
• The Vaping Industry as We Know It May Soon Disappear, Time
• Taxing Tobacco and E-Cigarettes at the Same Rate Will Harm Young Users, New Study Finds, Georgia State University
• Tobacco manufacturers gain more time on graphic warning labels mandate; enforcement now set to begin in October 2022, Winston-Salem Journal

Endgame

• Laguna Beach to revisit banning sales of tobacco and vape products, Los Angeles Times
• Brookline’s Age-Based Tobacco Ban Goes Into Effect Sept. 27, Patch
• Brookline’s business owners sue town over tobacco sales ban, Wicked Local

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 September 29, 2021