Ending the Sale of Flavored Tobacco Products

Tobacco is responsible for roughly 1/3 of all cancer deaths -- or approximately 1,000 deaths in Vermont this year. 

Ending the Sale of Flavored Tobacco Products

Flavors are a marketing weapon used by Big Tobacco to target youth. The evidence is clear: flavors hook kids.

• More than 80% of teens who have ever used tobacco started with a flavored product, and are more likely to continue using tobacco in the future.
• Youth report flavors are a leading reason they use tobacco products and perceive flavored products as less harmful.
• Altering tobacco product ingredients and design - like adding flavors - can improve the ease of use of a product by masking harsh effects, facilitating nicotine uptake, and increasing a product’s overall appeal.
• In VT, 9% high school students smoke. Our youth smoking rate is higher than the national average. Some counties double the national average.
• If smoking continues at the current rate among youth, 10,000 VT kids (under 18) alive today will die prematurely from a smoking-related illness.

Menthol hooks kids

• More than half (54%) of youth ages 12-17 who smoke use menthol cigarettes. That's higher than any other age group.
• For black youth ages 12-17 who smoke, seven out of 10 use menthol cigarettes. Big Tobacco has shamelessly and disproportionately marketed mentholated brands to black communities for decades.
• A nationwide study showed that of young adults (over 18) who smoked, a majority started with menthol cigarettes.
• Mint and menthol make up a large majority of Juul’s sales, with estimates as high as 80%.
• The evidence indicates that if any e-cigarette flavors are left on the market, kids will shift from one flavor to another.