Item 39 - Ordinance Prohibiting the Sale of Flavored Tobacco Products

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FDA's policy. Among high school e-cigarette users, use of disposable e-cigarettes increased by 1,000% from 2019 to 2020, and in 2020, 37% of high school users of flavored e-cigarettes reported using menthol products.19 E-cigarette market share data from California confirm these trends: From February 2020 to June 2021, disposable e-cigarette sales in California increased by 51.9%. Disposable products are sleek, easily concealed, pre-charged, cheap (some for less than $5) and can even have higher nicotine concentrations than JUUL. They are widely sold in kid-friendly flavors like fruit and candy. From February 2020 to June 2021, menthol-flavored e-cigarette sales in California increased by 43.1% (from 226.4 thousand to 324.0 thousand units) and menthol-flavored cartridge sales increased by 44%. While the FDA recently announced that it had denied marketing applications for certain flavored e- cigarettes, many of the flavored products most popular among kids, like Juul, are still on the market. Every day these products remain on the market, our kids remain in jeopardy. Because of the delays and gaps in the FDA's actions, it is critical that states and cities step up their efforts to eliminate ALL flavored e-cigarettes, as well as other flavored tobacco products. The evidence is also clear that as long as any flavored e-cigarettes— including menthol-flavored products—are on the market, kids will shift to them and we will not end this public health crisis. Santa Ana must close the gaps left by the FDA and protect our kids from these dangerous and addictive products. As the only flavored cigarette left on the market, it's also no surprise that menthol cigarettes are popular among youth. Menthol cools and numbs the throat, reducing the harshness of cigarette smoke, thereby making menthol cigarettes more appealing to youth who are initiating smoking. About half of youth smokers use menthol cigarettes.20 As noted previously, young people who initiate using menthol cigarettes are more likely to become addicted and become long-term daily smokers.21 Tobacco companies have a long history of targeting and marketing flavored tobacco products to Black Americas and youth. Tobacco industry marketing, often targeted at minority communities, has been instrumental in increasing the use of menthol products and in the disproportionate use of menthol products by minority groups and youth.TPSAC concluded that menthol cigarettes are marketed disproportionately to younger smokers and Black Americans.22 Dating back to the 1950s, the tobacco industry has targeted these communities with marketing for menthol cigarettes through sponsorship of community and music events, targeted magazine advertising, youthful imagery, and marketing in the retail environment. This targeting continues today: in 2018, California tobacco retailers in neighborhoods with the highest proportions of Black residents were more likely to advertise menthol cigarettes and charged an estimated 25 cents less for Newport cigarettes, compared with stores in neighborhoods with the lowest proportion of Black residents.23 Nationwide, as a result of this targeting, 85% of Black smokers smoke menthol cigarettes, compared to 29% of White smokers. 24