California must ignore Big Tobacco’s attacks and protect kids from flavored nicotine

In a desperate and dishonest ploy to keep children addicted to tobacco products, Big Tobacco has staged a last-minute, all-out assault on Senate Bill 793. Big Tobacco is now bombarding the public with propaganda attacks on legislators who support the historic legislation to ban flavored tobacco products.

One mailer sent to Sacramento County residents in recent days actually depicts Asm. Kevin McCarty of Sacramento as a supporter of tobacco. But McCarty has been fighting for years to get dangerous flavored tobacco products off of the market. Big Tobacco’s attempt to twist the narrative exposes the pathetic nature of its strategy to protect flavored tobacco at all costs.

The unhinged strategy also makes it clear that SB 793 is very close to passage. The bill would stamp out the tobacco industry’s efforts to addict young people with candy-flavored tobacco by banning the products, setting an example for the rest of the nation.

And Big Tobacco is afraid.

SB 793, authored by state Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, would help undo the damage Big Tobacco has wrought with its strategy to addict children. Tobacco companies like Altria, which is funding ads and mailers against SB 793, have created a full-blown epidemic of childhood nicotine addiction driven by slick technology, youth-oriented marketing and candy flavors like cheesecake, cherry, mint and “unicorn vomit.”

Big tobacco and the vaping industry downplayed the products’ appeal to kids for years, insisting the products were only for adults. But Big Tobacco was so successful in creating a youth nicotine addiction epidemic that the real purpose of the flavored vaping products became undeniably obvious.

“The number of middle and high school students using e-cigarettes rose from 3.6 million in 2018 to 5.4 million in 2019 – a difference of about 1.8 million youth,” according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The rise of vaping among teens has had a dramatic impact in schools nationwide, including in Sacramento. Officials from Rio Americano High School told ABC 10 last year that the number of students in busted for vaping “increased by roughly 45 percent from the 2017-2018 school year to the 2018-2019 school year.” The problem became so severe that parents, teachers and students formed a group called the Anti-Vaping Alliance.

Hill has tried repeatedly to pass a flavored tobacco ban, meeting fierce resistance every time. This is his last chance, since he’s termed out at the end of the year. SB 793, which would also ban the menthol cigarettes the tobacco industry has long marketed to African Americans, will make history. Big Tobacco says it’s racist to ban menthol, which it uses to target African Americans. But only one side of this debate is actively killing people. The other side is trying to save lives.

We hope the California State Legislature will choose the right side by voting yes on this simple and sensible bill to protect human health. Legislative leaders must make 2020 the year they finally put the health of Californians before the interests of the tobacco corporations.

The Legislature should ignore Big Tobacco’s malicious disinformation strategy — and its campaign contributions — and send SB 793 to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk.

This story was originally published August 24, 2020 at 1:55 PM with the headline "California must ignore Big Tobacco’s attacks and protect kids from flavored nicotine."