Over 80% of kids who have used tobacco started with a flavored product.

Tell the New York State Legislature to end the sale of all flavored tobacco products

VICTORY!

The New York State Legislature has voted to end the sale of all flavored e-cigarettes – and Gov. Cuomo, who pushed for this legislation, has signed it into law! This is a huge victory for kids over the tobacco industry. And it couldn’t have come at a more critical time, with mounting concerns that smokers and vapers are at higher risk of severe complications from COVID-19. READ MORE

» E-Cigarette Resources for Parents

» COVID-19: Implications for People Who Smoke or Vape

ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN

Tobacco companies have been hooking our kids for years with enticing flavors, and now they’re scheming to addict another generation of kids by selling products in flavors like gummy bear, cotton candy, banana smash, mango and “smooth menthol.”

In fact, youth e-cigarette use has skyrocketed to what the Surgeon General and FDA have called “epidemic” levels. According to new data from the 2019 National Youth Tobacco Survey (2019 NYTS), e-cigarette use among high school students nationwide increased to 27.5% in 2019 compared to 11.7% in 2017 and 20.8% in 2018. Altogether over 5 million middle and high school students now use e-cigarettes.

The main cause of the problem is Juul, a sleek, high-tech e-cigarette that looks like a USB flash drive – and is small and easy to hide, comes in sweet flavors that entice kids and delivers a powerful nicotine hit.

But Juul isn’t the only problem. There are now over 15,500 e-cigarette flavors and 200 cigar flavors, and more keep coming. These flavored tobacco products undermine New York’s efforts to reduce youth tobacco use.

Meanwhile, tobacco companies continue to aggressively market menthol-favored cigarettes to kids, African Americans and other demographic groups as they have for decades. Youth smokers are more likely to use menthol cigarettes than any other age group. Menthol cigarettes pose a tremendous public health threat – they make it easier to start and harder to quit smoking.