The Fresh Campus Campaign is a college advocacy campaign sponsored by the Louisiana Tobacco-Free College Initiative. The objective of the Fresh Campus Campaign is to make Louisiana college campuses 100% tobacco-free. The Fresh Campus Campaign is led by students in 10 colleges and universities in Louisiana, students who are standing up to make a difference where they learn, work, and live.
Categories
(un)Flavor(ed) Country
Apple-flavored tobacco will no longer be available in the Big Apple. A federal district court judge upheld a city ban that prohibits the sale of all flavored tobacco products (except cigarettes), with the exception of menthol and mint-flavored products.
According to a recent article, the ban pertains to “any fruit, chocolate, vanilla, honey, candy, cocoa, dessert, alcoholic beverage, herb or spice” flavorings used in anything but cigarettes. The idea is to keep tobacco tasting like tobacco, a move that could directly damage the potential to attract new tobacco users. Among those potential new users that can be turned off by the lack of flavoring are minors – a group of customer that can’t legally buy tobacco products but (although big tobacco will never openly admit it) would be necessary to keep big tobacco earnings high in the future. Because let’s be honest here, who is candy-flavored tobacco really aiming to attract?
The move by NYC to enforce the flavoring ban also sets the stage for more cities to join in. While the FDA hasn’t enforced a ban on the production of flavored tobacco products, NYC’s move to create a citywide ban sets a precedent that allows other cities to do the same thing.
Rates Are Down and That’s a Step Up
With smoking down, things are looking up in New York. According to a recent study smoking rates have dropped by a whopping 35% in New York and the state has reached an all-time low 14% smoking rate.
Mayor Bloomberg attributed the decrease preventative legislation that made smoking not only harder to do in public but considerably more expensive due to tax hikes. He also went on to give credit to an innumerable amount of New Yorkers who actively made the decision to quit for their own health – a clear sign that awareness campaigns do work.
While on overall 35% drop is outstanding, there are some particular stats that are more impressive. In certain neighborhoods (Central Harlem, Southern Staten Island, Flatbush and Canarsie in Brooklyn) the rate has dropped by over 50%.
The most promising statistic came from high school students. In 2001 New York high school students reported a 17.6% smoking rate but that rate has dropped by over half and now rests at 7.2%. The drop is significant because it shows a decrease in the number of new and potential life-long smokers, a group that big tobacco desperately needs to stay in business.
