SAFE GC Coalition: ALA 2025 State of Tobacco Control Report

The American Lung Association (ALA) “State of Tobacco Control” report discusses federal and state efforts to prevent and reduce tobacco use in 2024 and what policies need to be enacted in 2025.

The report maintains the tobacco industry is taking more aggressive actions at the federal and state level to protect its profits at the expense of the health of the nation. In 2024, the most glaring example of this trend was the effort aimed at the Biden White House to stop them from finalizing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rules that would end the sale of menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars. At the state level, the industry sought to protect specific tobacco products from taxation and to pass legislation that would result in state governments pursuing penalties against smaller competitors that sell e-cigarette products illegally in the U.S. ALA says lawmakers must resist these tobacco industry efforts and continue to pass proven policies to prevent and reduce tobacco use.

All references to tobacco use, tobacco control or tobacco products in the report refers specifically to the use of manufactured, commercial tobacco products.

According to the ALA, 2024 featured several major shortfalls in the country’s efforts to prevent and reduce tobacco use, the failure to finalize rules to end the sale of menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars in December 2023 or April 2024. This failure to act will result in continued death and disease caused by smoking, especially among historically marginalized communities.

According to news reports, the tobacco industry and its allies played a major role in the decision not to move forward, having many meetings with the White House and conducting an opposition media campaign through outlets friendly to their position as the decision on whether to finalize the rules was being made. The industry has long engaged in these types of efforts to influence lawmakers but stepped up the intensity in opposition to these rules.

Halting these rules is an effort to protect the industry’s profits from their decades-long targeted marketing of menthol cigarettes in Black, LGBTQ+ and other historically marginalized communities using advertising, free samples and donations to community organizations including law enforcement organizations. Unfortunately, the industry has been highly successful, with close to 80% of Black individuals in the U.S who smoke using menthol cigarettes today, up from only 5% prior to the beginning of the targeted marketing in the 1950s. Menthol cigarette use also remains elevated among lesbian, gay and bisexual communities, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities, women and persons with lower incomes. Researchers note that there is nothing biologically that makes a menthol cigarette any more appealing to any group than another; the disparities in menthol tobacco use in these communities are a direct result of the industry’s intentional efforts to increase use.

The federal government took several actions to increase its enforcement against illegal e-cigarette products during 2024. These efforts included FDA collaborations with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to block the import of additional brands of e-cigarettes and to seize more e-cigarettes at the border; and FDA, CBP, U.S. Department of Justice and several other government agencies establishing a federal multi-agency task force focused on combatting illegal e-cigarettes.

However, both large and small tobacco companies continue to introduce and sell flavored illegal e-cigarette products across the country. Especially concerning are the e-cigarette products that look like other everyday items for sale such as juice boxes or video games built into the e-cigarette. These manipulative industry actions contribute to the 2.25 million middle and high school students that continued to use tobacco products, including e-cigarettes in 2024 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s 2024 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS).

The ALA report maintains there were several positive developments from 2024 at the federal level that could result in significant reductions in tobacco use if fully implemented.

• In November 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of a March 2024 decision from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals upholding the cigarette graphic warning labels on constitutional grounds. The case now returns to the U.S. District Court to resolve other issues, but this decision clears a major hurdle toward these warning labels appearing on cigarette packs.
• In January 2024, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a proposed rule that would significantly reduce nicotine levels in almost all combusted tobacco products.

SAFE, Inc. is the only alcohol and substance abuse prevention, intervention, and education agency in the City of Glen Cove. The Coalition is concerned about tobacco use and all combustible and electronic products with tobacco. The Agency employs environmental strategies to educate and update the community regarding the negative consequences of smoking and vaping. To learn more about the SAFE Glen Cove Coalition please follow www.facebook.com/safeglencove or to learn more about electronic products visit the Youth and Tobacco Use and Vaping Facts and Myths Pages of SAFE’s website to learn more about how vaping is detrimental to your health at www.safeglencove.org.