Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids

DJ Yearwood — a Kansas Citian and our National Youth Ambassador and board member — shared powerful testimony as the Kansas City Council considers a policy to end the sale of flavored tobacco products. He called out the tobacco industry for prioritizing profits over health and urged his elected leaders to protect future generations. We join him in urging Kansas City to end the sale of flavored tobacco products.

Today, I, alongside Erin Gabert, presented Ordinance 240897 to the KC City Council Neighborhood Planning & Development committee— seeking to ban the sale of all flavored tobacco/nicotine/vape products from being sold in Kansas City. This legislation has become dire after this industry has use predatory, deceptive, and manipulative tactics to exploit the vulnerabilities of certain groups of people— youth, people of color, women, etc— in order to hook them for a life time of addiction, illness, and early and preventable death. These flavors are proven to be directly tied to the reason a vast majority of vapers, smokers, and nicotine users began and even continue to use these products. By banning these flavors from being sold in Kansas City we are restricting the mass marketing of the industry’s #1 tactic to attract children; we are addressing the decades long practice of menthol being used to target Black & Hispanic communities; and we are strengthening the requirements for tobacco retailers to follow the law and not sell these products to children. This ordinance PASSED committee. Now, we must see it across the finish line this Thursday. If you’re able & interested in reaching out to the Council and urging them to pass this once and for all on Thursday, let me know!

This TIME article underscores how today's e-cigarettes are designed to hook a new generation and keep people addicted for life. “If you have a 2,000-puff vape, there’s [almost] no stopping point,” a tobacco researcher explains. “What we see is a lot of people saying, ‘I’m using way more nicotine now than I ever did with a cigarette,’” adds Truth Initiative’s chief health officer Amanda Graham, PhD. This problem will only get worse so long so long as illegal, candy-flavored e-cigarettes continue to flood the market. Urgent action is needed to eliminate these products and help people quit for good. https://lnkd.in/eB2Mft2B

An honor to talk at PAHO's 61st Directing Council last week, which focused on tobacco control but in the larger frame of safeguarding - and promoting - public health in the Americas.

Tobacco giant Philip Morris International’s front group “Global Action to End Smoking” is trying to get accreditation for its continuing medical education courses about tobacco and nicotine products. Unsurprisingly, these courses are littered with tobacco industry talking points.   This strategy echoes the early days of tobacco marketing when cigarette companies would use doctors in their ads. They can’t be so bold today, so instead they fund front groups and other entities to achieve the same goal: sell their addictive products.   We and our public health partners urge the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to deny any accreditation sought by tobacco industry-funded entities, and to institute a policy that formalizes this position.   Read the full letter 👇

We are proud to work with the CDC Foundation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Office on Smoking & Health and Truth Initiative to launch a new website with the latest figures on U.S. e-cigarette sales and tobacco trends. Today’s e-cigarettes are sold in thousands of flavors, deliver massive doses of nicotine and can even come with video games and other smartphone-like features that make them even more appealing to kids. Supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, this new website provides interactive charts and other visualization tools to keep up with this public health crisis. Check it out at tobaccomonitoring.org

Great news in California as leaders are cracking down on the illegal sale of flavored tobacco products to protect kids and other communities targeted by Big Tobacco. Our National Youth Ambassador and Board Member Connor Lam — who has been instrumental in this effort — shares the latest.   Help us continue to take on the tobacco industry and empower youth advocates like Connor at tfk.org/donate

In collaboration with Emory Centers for Public Health Training and Technical Assistance, I had the pleasure of presenting alongside my colleague Hope Neuling on new and emerging commercial tobacco products in the United States. Now, more than ever, it's important to stay informed of the countless products we see on the market; some even being illegal. Check out the link below to sign up for the Center for Rapid Surveillance of Tobacco's alert system: https://lnkd.in/eNtWY7QV

We had a great time at Truth Initiative headquarters last week!   Since each of our organizations opened our doors, young people and their coordinators have been critical in the progress we’ve made to protect kids and save lives from tobacco. Our teams convened to plan ahead as we continue to empower the next generation of young leaders standing up to the tobacco industry and fighting for a tobacco-free future.

Our event at the 79th United Nations General Assembly, "Advocacy to Achieve the SDGs for Children", co-hosted with UNICEF, brought together global experts to discuss how country-level advocacy can turn global commitments into meaningful action for children. Here are a few highlights: Our Executive Vice President, Lucy Martinez Sullivan, opened with a powerful message: to deliver on the Sustainable Development Agenda, we must translate global goals into effective local action. Advocacy is key, and success depends on reliable country-level data systems that ensure every child is counted.  Unicef's CRVS and Legal Identity Specialist Bhaskar Mishra, highlighted the staggering data gap: 1 in 4 children under five births and more than half of under-five deaths are not recorded. Filling these gaps is crucial for addressing preventable child deaths.  Bloomberg Philanthropies's Betsy Fuller, MPA emphasized that data is fundamental to understanding the gaps we must overcome to achieve the SDGs for children. Building sustainable data systems is essential to create policies that protect children.  Our panelists shared valuable insights on scalable and replicable advocacy models across countries. Dr. Juan Pablo Bocarejo emphasized that advocates play a crucial role not only in pushing for legal reforms but also in reshaping the underlying infrastructure to enable policy change. Robert Eckford, Program Director of our Data for Health Initiative, echoed this by emphasizing that advocacy involves empowering grassroots organizations and amplifying public voices to influence change at the highest political levels. Dr. Nguyen Thi An of Healthbridge Viet Nam tied it all together, reminding us that advocacy, whether at the local or national level, is cyclical and interconnected. Thanks to all who joined us in-person and virtually! Together, we’ll continue advancing advocacy for children worldwide. And please stay tuned for our blog delving deeper into insights from the event, and the recordings. #GlobalHealthAdvocacy #UNGA79