The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this week announced it had issued the first marketing denial orders (MDOs) for electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) products after determining the applications for approximately 55,000 flavored electronic cigarette products lacked sufficient evidence that they have a benefit to adult smokers to overcome the public health threat posed…
Read More »On Wednesday, California Attorney General Rob Bonta joined a bipartisan coalition of 31 state attorneys general in urging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to take action to protect public health and address youth tobacco use by more effectively regulating electronic cigarettes and other emerging tobacco products. Specifically, the coalition of attorneys general are…
Read More »On Monday, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) launched a new advertising campaign entitled, “Tell Your Story,” in response to the latest high school vaping data from the 2019-20 California Student Tobacco Survey. The survey, which includes data from September 2019 to March 2020, found that California’s high school vaping rate is at its…
Read More »This week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced its commitment to advancing two tobacco product standards to significantly reduce disease and death caused by using combustible tobacco products. The two standards – a menthol product standard and a flavored cigar standard – will aim to ban menthol as a characterizing flavor in cigarettes…
Read More »This week, a group of California public health organizations joined forces to form the “Committee to Protect California Kids” to lead the effort to oppose the 2022 ballot measure to overturn the flavored tobacco ban enacted through SB 793 (Hill) in 2020. The Committee includes the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council, American Heart Association,…
Read More »Late last week, the California Secretary of State’s Office announced a referendum seeking to overturn SB 793 (Hill) that would ban the sale of flavored tobacco products statewide. The law, which was signed into statute in late August 2020, was set to take effect at the beginning of this month. However, given that the referendum…
Read More »California State Auditor Elaine Howle this week released an audit report entitled, “Proposition 56 Tobacco Tax: State Agencies’ Weak Administration Reduced Revenue by Millions of Dollars and Led to the Improper Use and Inadequate Disclosure of Funds.” Auditor Howle determined that the Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) did not ensure the accuracy of…
Read More »Yesterday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in collaboration with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), released a report finding that current tobacco product use declined among U.S. middle and high school students from 2019 to 2020, largely driven by decreases in e-cigarette, cigar, and smokeless tobacco use. However, the National…
Read More »Last week, a coalition consisting of retailers and tobacco industry representatives, including tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris USA, submitted over one million signatures from California voters in an attempt to overturn SB 793 (Hill) that would ban the sale of flavored tobacco products statewide. Recall, the coalition initially filed referendum paperwork to overturn…
Read More »On Thursday, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed a brief in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California defending SB 793 by Senator Jerry Hill which banned the sale of flavored tobacco products statewide. Recall, SB 793 was nearly immediately signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom in late August. Following its…
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