Co-authored by Columbus, OH Mayor Andrew J. Ginther and Montgomery, AL Mayor Steven L. Reed
Two years ago, the U.S. Conference of Mayors passed a bipartisan resolution calling for the elimination of all flavored tobacco products, including the flavored e-cigarettes that are addicting a new generation of youth (PDF) and the menthol cigarettes the tobacco industry has long used to target young people, as well as Black, LGBTQ+ and other communities. Due to the tobacco industry’s opposition and deceptive claims, there has been too little progress. These flavored tobacco products remain widely available (PDF) for sale in cities and near schools across the country.
As the president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and immediate past president of the African American Mayors Association, we are deeply committed to improving the health of our cities. That is why we stand united with leading health, civil rights, parent and community organizations — and an overwhelming majority of voters — to stop the tobacco industry from targeting our kids and our communities (and especially our Black communities) with flavored products. Policymakers at all levels must redouble efforts to protect our kids and reduce the significant health harms and inequities caused by tobacco use.
At the federal level, the Food and Drug Administration and other relevant agencies must act swiftly to clear the market of all flavored e-cigarettes. Action is urgent as more than 1.6 million youth currently use e-cigarettes, and nearly 90% of them use flavored products. To date, the FDA has authorized the sale of only 34 e-cigarette products (PDF) and made it clear that these are the only e-cigarettes that can be legally sold in the U.S. Yet manufacturers continue to flood the market with thousands of illegal flavored products, and they continue to make their products even more youth-friendly and addictive with features such as built-in video games and massive doses of highly addictive nicotine (PDF). The FDA and other agencies need to step up enforcement to remove these illegal products from the market.
Newer products like Zyn only compound the problem. These nicotine pouches are easily concealed, heavily marketed on social media and come in kid-friendly flavors — pulling from the very same playbook Big Tobacco has used again and again to addict new generations. In addition, we were deeply disappointed that the Biden Administration failed to issue the final rules prohibiting menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars. These rules have been under consideration for more than a decade, and the FDA formally proposed them in May 2022. Research shows that banning menthol cigarettes will save up to 654,000 lives within 40 years (PDF), including 255,000 Black lives (PDF). The failure to issue the final menthol and cigar rules only underscores the need for cities and states to fill the void and act as soon as possible.
At the state and local levels, mayors, city councils, legislatures and governors must continue the push to pass laws ending the sale of flavored tobacco products. Big Tobacco is spending huge sums to defeat these laws (PDF) and to promote state preemption measures that keep cities from passing local laws to reduce tobacco use. They attempted to do exactly this in Ohio, but the City of Columbus led local jurisdictions in fighting for our rights to protect our kids and successfully filed suit challenging the constitutionality of this law (PDF).
We are working together to undo this manipulation by the tobacco industry to hamstring local governments. Where we can pass local laws, we should, and we are determined to do so.
Mayors across the country have joined together to launch Mayors for Healthy Kids to save lives, reduce the drastic health inequities in our communities and stop tobacco companies from targeting our young people with flavored products. Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in our country, killing nearly half a million people every year. Tobacco use is also a major contributor to health disparities (PDF) because of the tobacco industry’s targeted marketing to Black and other populations. Imagine how many lives we could save if we worked together at all levels — local, state and federal — to end the sale of all flavored tobacco products.
Our cities are fighting back to protect our people from our nation’s number one killer. We are determined to share strategies that have achieved success at the local level (PDF) in places including Columbus, OH, Los Angeles, CA, Portland, ME, Washington, D.C. and the nearly 400 localities that have already cracked down on the sale of flavored tobacco products.
It is past time to end the targeting and exploitation of our kids and communities. We must work together to eliminate flavored tobacco products and prevent tobacco companies from addicting yet another generation of young people.
Andrew J. Ginther is the Mayor of Columbus, Ohio, and President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Steven L. Reed is the Mayor of Montgomery, Alabama, and Immediate Past President of the African American Mayors Association.
Visit the NLC Strategic Partnerships page to learn more about the organizations like CityHealth dedicated to making NLC the premier resource for local governments.
