SOS launches another youth activity, yawn.

A major aspect the tobacco industry uses to justify marketing and promotion of a deadly addictive drug is that consumers make a responsible adult choice.  In litigation, when victims have sued, almost invariably the argument industry takes is that you can’t be sure tobacco killed you and even if it did you knew better and chose to smoke.  I mean we’ve had this warning on the pack since 1965.  What were you thinking?

Phillip Morris funds ostensible tobacco prevention programs to keep kids from starting to smoke with the message that smoking is a choice only an adult should make.  Can you think of a better way to get kids to smoke?  It’s an adult choice.  So what if most smokers make that choice a few years early?  The tremendous capacity for nicotine to addict is fairly much a neglected aspect of the product.  It’s all about choosing.

And along comes the latest Stamp Out Smoking essay contest.  The theme this year is My Reason to Write.  Students are encouraged to write a letter thanking someone for their smoke free example or encouraging someone to quit.  Notice anything?  It’s all about choosing. In fact, the heading of the page says “We can all say NO to tobacco.” 

Undoubtedly we’ll see the same tired pleadings to addicted family members and blustering pledges to never start so they can make the team.  In fact one of the suggestions is to organize a pledge drive.  (I would welcome any legitimate research able to show that no smoking pledges are worth any more than the paper they are printed on.)  In the first case the focus is on a role model in their lives.  They may be an addict but they are still role models so something must be OK about nicotine.  In the second instance, the industry line about choice being the significant aspect of smoking is parroted.  Success with youth focused tobacco control programs are often frustratingly short term.  With efforts like this it is no wonder.

I am fond of saying that tobacco has not been a benign weed by the side of the road for 400 years.  But this is what is depicted when young people are told that the individual's choice to be tobacco free will make the difference.  In the tips for parents and teachers on how to talk to kids about tobacco nowhere is the tobacco industry mentioned.  Nowhere does it say that tobacco marketing, promotion, and public use are the result of multi-national corporations’ demand for profit. Instead these talking points would have us believe that being tobacco free was like choosing one cereal over the other for breakfast.  Characterizing the issue like this makes it seem that smoking is a normal part of their day, they shouldn’t do it, but it's normal.  When the very opposite should be our message.

In 1996 Dr. Stanton Glantz wrote in the American Journal of Public Health, 

“Finally, the public health community should realize that the best way to keep kids from smoking is to reduce tobacco consumption among every one.  The message should not be “we don’t want kids to smoke”; it should be “we want a smoke-free society.”  As the tobacco industry knows well kids want to be like adults, and reducing smoking sends a strong message to kids about social norms.”

That was 16 years ago.  Dr. Glantz spoke at the CTFA conference just last week.  Was anybody  responsible for this campaign there?  Have they ever been?  It is bad enough to have Burson Marsteller’s only U.S. based affiliate paid to run campaigns like this. The revolving door of personnel without actual tobacco control experience in the TPCP program makes ineffective messaging like this even more unfortunate.

Cigars, Candy, Litigation, and Laws

Cigars, Candy, Litigation, and Laws

In 2009 Congress passed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act with support from major public health groups, and tobacco giant Philip Morris. Lauded by supporters as a landmark, the bill gave the Food and Drug Administration limited authority over tobacco.  But three years after passage, the bulk of the FSPTCA has been delayed or repealed by tobacco industry litigation.  Requirements that tobacco advertisement near where children are present be limited to black on white has been struck down.  Large graphic package warnings, scheduled to go in effect in 2012, are still delayed.  And most recently authority preempting local control over point of sale warnings has been delivered a setback in a New York appellate court.

While many consider the omission of menthol in the list of restricted cigarette flavorings a serious flaw in the FSPTCA, banning fruit and candy flavors have not been thwarted in the courts.  Unfortunately, pro tobacco forces in Congress have introduced a serious challenge in the Traditional Cigar Manufacturing and Small Business Jobs Preservation Act of 2011.  Purportedly focused on high end cigar products, this bill would remove cigars from FDA regulatory authority.  However, that includes the smaller candy and fruit flavored cigars that are a significant feature of the tobacco cartel’s growth market.  These small cigars are more accessible to youth not only because they are sold in flavors but they are also sold individually and often the most inexpensive tobacco product available.  The 2012 Surgeon General’s Report on Youth and Young Adult Tobacco Use notes that 1 in 5 white male high school seniors is a current cigar smoker and that most typically consume more than one type of tobacco product. 

This proposed legislation should alarm local tobacco free advocates because 3 of Arkansas’ Representatives are co-sponsors.  Additionally, retailers in Arkansas are not yet required to place all tobacco products behind the counter. Product placement, like placing small cigars next to bubble gum, has long been a tactic in a sophisticated strategy making tobacco seem normal and desirable in stores where youth frequent.  

For all its flaws, the FSTPCA may show most promise in the potential for point of sale regulation. The new law allows state and local restrictions on the “time, place, and manner” but not “content”  of tobacco marketing. One locality, Haverstraw, NY, has become the first U.S. municipality to restrict tobacco displays, mimicking tactics public health advocates have employed in other countries.   

Protecting the marketing and promotion of inexpensive candy flavored tobacco with bill titles like “Small Business Jobs Preservation” would be silly if the cost to public health were not so tragic.  The Surgeon General’s Report  notes that 80% of high school smokers will go on to smoke into adulthood.  Half will die prematurely.  It is this compelling interest that should drive policy makers to recognize the tobacco cartel’s continued profit at the public’s expense, and end it.  

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