E-cigarette unit sales increased by 46.6% during January 2020–December 2022. After January 2020, sales of mint and other flavored prefilled cartridges ceased, and disposable e-cigarettes in fruit, sweet, and other flavors increased. Disposable e-cigarettes in youth-appealing flavors are now more commonly sold than prefilled units.
Tobacco
The smoking aesthetic is back in style. Shouldn’t people know better by now?
Uh oh, smoking is cool again. At least, some people seem to think so.
Dua Lipa, Lily-Rose Depp and Jenna Ortega have all flaunted their cigarettes recently. Many young people are getting back into the smoking aesthetic, especially on nights out. It’s 2023. The general public is well aware that smoking is dangerous – so why are some people still picking up smoking now?
Stranger than fiction: tobacco company offers life insurance policies with discounts for product users
A life insurance company called Reventi advertises with the following quote: “We offer smokers great rates on life insurance because we want to inspire everyone to quit tobacco and nicotine altogether.” It sounds like a good offer, but it’s a bit more complicated than that. Reventi is owned by Philip […]
Walgreens implements shame-induced policy to finally protect youth from tobacco
Facing public criticism after a JAMA Pediatrics study found tobacco control violations at 22% of FDA-inspected stores, Walgreens is implementing their own “Tobacco 21” policy chain-wide starting in September. This is a step in the right direction, but notably came only after widespread public scorn. Read their press release here.
Advocates win lawsuit against FDA, forcing graphic warning labels within a year
Over 120 countries require graphic warning labels on cigarette packaging, and still despite extensive evidence of their effectiveness the United States has not updated label regulations since 1984. Now, after a landmark victory in a federal court the FDA must issue their final rule mandating graphic health warnings on both […]
Oscar nominated films continue to promote tobacco use
In 2018 we posted about the overwhelming majority of Oscar-nominated films (86%) which featured tobacco usage. Unfortunately, this year wasn’t much better. Just under 80% of films competing featured tobacco imagery, but whereas the average nominated film in 2018 featured 69 tobacco incidents per film, the 2019 nominations averaged a staggering […]
Big Tobacco successfully wrangled over 1 million new underage tobacco users with e-cigarettes in 2018
The results are in from the 2018 National Youth Tobacco Survey. For years we’ve seen a decrease in youth tobacco usage, but 27.1% of high school students reported current use of at least one tobacco product – the highest percentage since 2004. The number of reported underage users of any […]
Walgreens violates tobacco control laws more than any other pharmacy
Walgreens has come under fire for a pattern of illegal tobacco sales to minors, with a whopping 22% of FDA-inspected Walgreens found to be violating the tobacco sale laws. Since 2010, Walgreens has received 1,550 warning letters from the FDA and 240 financial penalties for selling tobacco to minors. A study in […]
Koop associate director weighs in on future of nicotine-addicted youth
For years now public health officials have weighed the pros of e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation aid against the very real appeal they pose to a generation who likely wouldn’t have otherwise experimented with tobacco. Now we are seeing the evidence. According to the annual “Monitoring the Future” survey, the […]
Koop researchers show that kids who see e-cigarette advertising are more likely to start smoking cigarettes
It is known that cigarette advertising is associated with youth initiation of cigarette usage. This research established that receptivity to the advertising of other tobacco products (such as e-cigarettes) was similarly indicative of future product usage. Read their article here.