Los Angeles, Calif. – Today, Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer held a news conference to release information about a draft ordinance to end the sale of all flavored tobacco products. The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) continues to urge the Los Angeles City Council do everything in its power to protect children’s health and lives by ending the sale of all flavored tobacco products – without exemptions.
The following is a statement from ACS CAN Government Relations Director Primo Castro:
“Menthol, other candy and fruit-flavored tobacco products are a key part of the tobacco industry’s shameless strategy to bait youth and communities of color into a potential lifetime of addiction.
“Tobacco use is the number one cause of preventable disease, disability and death in this country. It leads to a third of all cancer deaths in California and has yielded unsurmountable profits for Big Tobacco for generations. And that’s why Big Tobacco is deliberately targeting kids, as well as lower-income, Black and Brown and LGBTQ+ communities with enticing flavored tobacco products, which has resulted in a disproportionate use of menthol products by these communities and a disproportionate cancer burden.
“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently failed to meet its court-ordered deadline to rule on all e-cigarette and other tobacco product manufacturers’ applications to keep their harmful and highly addictive products on the market. It is essential that the City Council takes bold, swift action to address the flavored tobacco use epidemic that endangers the future of our kids and protect the lives of nearly 4 million residents. The Los Angeles City Council should follow the lead of the county and more than 70 other cities around the state that have ended the sale of all flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes, cigars, e-cigarettes and flavored shisha.”
