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Protect what you love

As it relentlessly pursues profits, the tobacco industry is destroying many of the things we cherish. We’re fighting to protect the people and places we love. Here’s how you can help.

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  1. Send a letter
  2. Send a tweet
  3. Connect with a coalition

Make a difference in 3 clicks

The deceitful tobacco industry must be held accountable. Voice your concerns to local officials to make a difference. Enter your name, choose your location, and your email will be directed to your mayor or county supervisors.

Dear Mayor,
My name is
from

When California leads, the rest of the country follows. When it comes to fighting Big Tobacco’s deadly epidemic, our state is no exception. In the past few decades, we’ve cut the adult smoking rate by over 60%, achieved the lowest youth vaping rate in the county, slashed lung cancer rates by 42%, and saved over one million Californians from tobacco-related deaths. Two California cities have already created healthier communities by ending the sale of tobacco products.

Despite monumental progress, Big Tobacco remains an urgent threat to our community’s health, particularly for kids. The tobacco industry has doubled down on their business model of making a profit by getting young people addicted to nicotine with products like vapes and oral nicotine pouches. They target our kids online and through social media tricking them into thinking nicotine is harmless. And even though California has the lowest youth vaping rate in the US, vapes are the most used tobacco products with 6% of high school youth currently vaping and use of oral nicotine pouches among California high school youth nearly doubled in one year.  

Now is the moment to break the cycle of destruction Big Tobacco causes in our families and community—and we need your help. We have the power to create a better future for our kids, and it starts with keeping Big Tobacco from targeting them with addiction, disease, and death. With your leadership we can undo Big Tobacco’s deadly epidemic.

Sincerely,

Send a tweet

The tobacco industry wants us to think that selling products that destroy, sicken, and kill is perfectly normal. It’s not. Send a tweet to voice your outrage – because it’s time for a new normal.

I’m concerned about
It’s time we put an end to the tobacco industry making our kids lifelong addicts to products known to destroy their mental and physical health, all so they can make a profit. Don’t be fooled by Big Tobacco’s propaganda – nicotine is brain poison. #NicotineEqualsBrainPoison undo.org/addicting-kids

Take Action in Your Community

Enter your zip code to find your local public health program, and connect to learn more about how you can join the fight to protect your community and create a California free from Big Tobacco.

Resources

  1. https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/about/osh/program-funding/pdfs/california-508.pdf
  2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Fast Facts. cdc.gov. https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fast_facts/index.htm. Accessed March 23, 2022.
  3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Tobacco-Related Disparities. cdc.gov. https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/disparities/index.htm. Reviewed December 3, 2021. Accessed March 24, 2022.
  4. Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids; American Lung Association; American Heart/Stroke Association; American Cancer Society; American Academy of Pediatrics. The Flavor Trap: How Tobacco Companies Are Luring Kids with Candy-Flavored E-Cigarettes and Cigars. Washington, DC: Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids; 2017.
  5. Ambrose BK, Day HR, Rostron B, et al. Flavored Tobacco Product Use Among US Youth Aged 12-17 Years, 2013-2014. JAMA. 2015;314(17):1871–1873. doi:10.1001/jama.2015.13802.
  6. U.S. Surgeon General. Surgeon General’s Advisory on E-cigarette Use Among Youth. e-cigarettes.surgeongeneral.gov. 2018. Accessed April 18, 2019.
  7. Harris B. The intractable cigarette 'filter problem'. Tob Control. 2011;20 Suppl 1(Suppl_1):i10-i16. doi:10.1136/tc.2010.040113.
  8. Prata JC. Airborne microplastics: Consequences to human health?. Environ Pollut. 2018;234:115-126. doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2017.11.043.
  9. Choy CA, Robison BH, Gagne TO et al. The vertical distribution and biological transport of marine microplastics across the epipelagic and mesopelagic water column. Sci Rep. 2019;9:7843. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-44117-2.
  10. United Nations Environment Programme. Plastic planet: How tiny plastic particles are polluting our soil. unep.org. https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/plastic-planet-how-tiny-plastic-particles-are-polluting-our-soil. Published December 22, 2021. Accessed March 24, 2022.
  11. Smith M, Love DC, Rochman CM, Neff RA. Microplastics in Seafood and the Implications for Human Health. Curr Environ Health Rep. 2018;5(3):375-386. doi:10.1007/s40572-018-0206-z.
  12. Pauly JL, Stegmeier SJ, Allaart HA, et al. Inhaled cellulosic and plastic fibers found in human lung tissue. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 1998;7(5):419-428.
  13. Schwabl P, Köppel S, Königshofer P, et al. Detection of Various Microplastics in Human Stool: A Prospective Case Series. Ann Intern Med. 2019;171(7):453-457. doi:10.7326/M19-0618.
  14. Brownell KD, Warner KE. The perils of ignoring history: Big Tobacco played dirty and millions died. How similar is Big Food?. Milbank Q. 2009;87(1):259-294. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0009.2009.00555.x.
  15. World Health Organization, Tobacco and its environmental impact: an overview. 2017. https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/255574/9789241512497-eng.pdf. Accessed March 15, 2022.
  16. Van Schalkwyk MCI, Novotny TE, McKee M. No more butts. BMJ. 2019;367:l5890. Published 2019 Oct 23. doi:10.1136/bmj.l5890.
  17. Hendlin YH. Alert: Public Health Implications of Electronic Cigarette Waste. Am J Public Health. 2018;108(11):1489-1490. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2018.304699.
  18. Federal Trade Commission. Federal Trade Commission Cigarette Report for 2020. Washington, D.C.: Federal Trade Commission. 2021.
  19. De R. Juul Bought an Issue of a Science Journal. Here’s What the uhh ... Studies Say. VICE. https://www.vice.com/en/article/93yney/juul-bought-an-issue-of-a-science-journal-heres-what-the-uhh-studies-say. Published July 9, 2021. Accessed march 15, 2022.
  20. OpenSecrets. Industry Profile: Tobacco. Opensecrets.org. https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/industries/summary?cycle=2021&id=A02. Accessed March 16, 2022.
  21. https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/about/osh/program-funding/pdfs/california-508.pdf.
  22. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Fast Facts. cdc.gov. https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fast_facts/index.htm. Accessed March 23, 2022.
  23. Villanti AC, Johnson AL, Ambrose BK, et al. Flavored Tobacco Product Use in Youth and Adults: Findings From the First Wave of the PATH Study (2013–2014). Am J Prev Med. 2017;53(2):139-151. doi:10.1016/J.AMEPRE.2017.01.026.
  24. Office of the U.S. Surgeon General. Know the Risks. E-cigarettes.surgeongeneral.gov. Retrieved March 11, 2019.
  25. Goriounova NA, Mansvelder HD. Short- and long-term consequences of nicotine exposure during adolescence for prefrontal cortex neuronal network function. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med. 2012;2(12):a012120. Published 2012 Dec 1. doi:10.1101/cshperspect.a012120.
  26. Lee JG, Henriksen L, Rose SW, Moreland-Russell S, Ribisl KM. A Systematic Review of Neighborhood Disparities in Point-of-Sale Tobacco Marketing. Am J Public Health. 2015;105(9):e8-18.
  27. Yerger VB, Malone RE. African American leadership groups: smoking with the enemy. Tob Control. 2002;11(4):336–345. doi:10.1136/tc.11.4.336.