SACRAMENTO COUNTY, Calif. — With many neighboring cities and counties moving to keep fruity-flavored tobacco and nicotine vaping products off shelves, two Sacramento County Supervisors say they're leading a new effort to keep kids from getting hooked.
On Thursday, supervisors Phil Serna and Patrick Kennedy proposed to the Board of Supervisors that all candy-flavored tobacco and nicotine products, including menthol cigarettes and hookah, be removed from store shelves.
They said use of candy flavors has been "Big Tobacco's age-old trick" to draw children into smoking and vaping.
"(Big Tobacco) uses this knowledge to make big profits - despite the addiction, disease, and death their products have caused," said Kennedy. "That's why we are introducing an ordinance today that will stop tobacco companies from shamelessly targeting our kids with candy-flavored products designed to get them hooked on a high dose of nicotine."
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 81% of youth between the ages of 12 and 17 who had ever used tobacco reported their first product was flavored.
Nicotine can have adverse negative effects on the adolescent brain, reduce lung function and hinder athletic and educational performance — revealed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Though Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill on Aug. 27, 2020 ending the sale of flavored tobacco and nicotine, the ban was suspended earlier this year after tobacco companies fought against the ordinance. Voters will now be able to decide in 2022 through a referendum whether to appeal or reinstate the ban.
"In the weeks to come, I look forward to standing with a strong coalition of parents, youth advocates and public health experts to pass a strong ordinance protecting every neighborhood in Sacramento County from Big Tobacco," said Serna.
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