Tobacco Use Takes Disproportionate Toll on LGBTQIA+* Lives
NYS has launched a new phase of the It's Not Just media campaign which exposes the tobacco industry's intentional efforts to increase menthol product appeal to the LGBTQIA+ community. LGBTQIA+ people use tobacco, including menthol cigarettes, at higher rates than people who are cisgender and straight. National data shows that people who identify as bisexual are twice as likely to start smoking or be current smokers; 35.5% of transgender people are current smokers compared to 14.9% of heterosexual adults; and black transgender youth use tobacco at six times the rate of black cis youth. Additionally, 51% of lesbian/gay and 46% of bisexual...
NYS just made public parks safer and healthier for everyone, but communities can do more!
NYS recently amended Public Health Law to prohibits smoking of tobacco and cannabis in state-owned parks and parks managed by local governments, effective October 13, 2022. Eliminating smoking in parks keeps the air healthy, prevents toxic tobacco litter from harming people, animals and the environment. It makes these spaces more accessible to people with weakened immune systems and respiratory diseases such as asthma, and to those who rely on the availability of safe public parks for recreation and socializing. The amendment provision can be viewed here: NYS Public Health Law, Section 1399-O-2. Already in place in NY is Public...
Reality Check Senior Spotlight
Senbahavalli "Raji" Ramasamy, a senior at Guilderland High School, joined Reality Check in July 2020 and has been a mover and shaker in the tobacco control world ever since. From minute one, she has demonstrated outstanding communication and leadership skills, educating decision makers and her community about the harms of tobacco marketing and tobacco use. To get a full picture of how Raji used her voice to educate and mobilize, check out her "RC Member Spotlight" video. Then join us in a huge shout-out to Raji for all her hard work in the fight to stop the tobacco industry in its tracks. In the fall, Raji plans to study Biology at...
Juneteenth
Juneteenth, commemorated this year as a federal holiday for the first time, marks the end of institutionalized slavery and the beginning of a long, hard road to equity and racial justice for Black Americans. Emancipation brought with it a promise of equality and liberty, a promise that suffers under the weight of continued systemic racism as evidenced by persistent inequities between white and Black Americans in employment, housing, education, health care and more. Racial health disparities, further exacerbated by COVID-19, challenge us to intensify efforts to advance health equity by reducing the impact of tobacco use on Black Americans....
World No Tobacco Day 2022- Tobacco: Threat to our Environment
On this World No Tobacco Day, we're taking a closer look at Tobacco and it's impact on the environment. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), tobacco kills over 8 million people every year and destroys our environment, further harming human health, through the cultivation, production, distribution, consumption, and post-consumer waste. Tobacco products are the most littered item on the planet, containing more than 7000 toxic chemicals that leak into our environment. Roughly 4.5 trillion cigarette filters are found in our oceans, rivers, parks, soil, beaches and city sidewalks, annually. E-cigarettes are also causing a...
To the left is a typical tobacco product display. If you don’t use tobacco, you may not even notice, but kids do. Kids see. Kids notice. Kids remember. In fact, kids are more than twice as likely as adults to notice and remember retail tobacco marketing.