An easy win for Sacramento County: Banning flavored tobacco products marketed to children

When Californians head to the polls this year, they will decide whether or not to keep flavored tobacco and nicotine products legal. Industry lobbyists have poured millions into a campaign to block California’s 2020 law to end sales of flavored tobacco products and e-cigarettes that have helped spread addiction into vulnerable communities and particularly among children. The state’s voters will cast ballots on whether to uphold or repeal the law in a November referendum.

In the meantime, local governments are adopting their own fail-safes in case the tobacco lobbyists win. The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors is expected to consider joining them this month by ending sales of flavored nicotine and tobacco products.

Nearly 20% of high school students and 5% of middle school students reported using e-cigarettes in a 2020 survey. Among e-cigarette users, 83% used flavors, and according to the Tobacco-Free Kids Action Fund, almost all high-school-age vapers use flavored products. In Sacramento County, the vast majority of current youth tobacco users reported using a flavored product: 96% reported using flavored vapes, 78% said they used flavored hookah tobacco, and 76% reported using flavored smokeless tobacco, according to Sacramento Fights Flavors.

The county’s proposal would ban not only kid-friendly flavors like “Gummi Bear,” “Banana Nut Bread” and “Blue Raz Cotton Candy” but also minty menthol, which tobacco companies have historically used to target Black consumers.

Menthol, a chemical naturally found in mint, can reduce airway pain and irritation from cigarette smoke and suppress coughing — giving smokers the illusion of breathing more easily, according to the American Lung Association.

Eighty-five percent of Black smokers use menthol cigarettes, according to the 2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, and menthol products are routinely found to be cheaper in Black neighborhoods. Black Americans smoke quit smoking at lower rates than other groups and are more likely to die from tobacco-related diseases such as cancer, heart disease and stroke . In addition, approximately 48% of Latino smokers, 41% of Asian American smokers and 52% of smokers ages 12 to 17 smoke menthols.

The proposed ordinance going before the Sacramento County supervisors is similar to the one passed by the Sacramento City Council in 2019. Similar prohibitions have been imposed by the cities of Davis, West Sacramento and San Francisco as well as by Yolo, Alameda and Los Angeles counties.

The federal Food and Drug Administration banned cigarettes with flavors other than menthol in 2009 and has announced plans to develop a menthol prohibition. The agency also said last year that it would enforce regulations against vaping flavors that are likely to appeal to children, but manufacturers have had little trouble skirting the crackdown.

It is clear that any government that is serious about stemming nicotine addiction, particularly among children and other vulnerable communities, should ban menthol and other flavorings.

Much can be accomplished when children’s safety is invoked. This proposal should be an easy win for Sacramento County and everyone else but Big Tobacco.

This story was originally published January 3, 2022 at 5:00 AM.