Reality Check Youth Denounce Flavored Tobacco Products

Brentwood, NY- Long Island Reality Check Youth recently celebrated Take Down Tobacco National Day of Action by educating their peers on the tobacco industry’s manipulative and deceptive marketing practices that appeal to youth, during the Brentwood Freshman Center’s International Night. Take Down Tobacco Day, held on March 31st, 2023, rallies young people across the nation to take a stand against the tobacco industry’s marketing of flavored e-cigarettes and menthol cigarettes that attract and addict youth.

Menthol-flavored tobacco products are easier to start and harder to quit. “With more than half of youth smokers between ages 12 and 17 using menthol cigarettes[1], it is vital that we continue to highlight the disproportionate rates at which flavored tobacco products cause youth to start smoking,” stated Stacy Dacelien, Reality Check Coordinator.

At the event, Reality Check member, Andrew Miranda, informed guests that “the tobacco industry uses flavored products with bright packaging to entice youth[2].” In New York State, the average age of a new smoker is 13 years old, and the tobacco industry devotes a large number of resources to promote their products to those under 21 years of age[1] . The ongoing vaping epidemic among adolescents is a public health crisis that warrants far more attention, and flavored products are fueling it. Flavored vaping products are highly appealing to children and teenagers, lead to more adolescent nicotine addiction, and increase the risks of subsequently using other tobacco products like cigarettes[3]. In a show of support, students took photos with #TakeDownTobacco signage and shared photos and the information learned on social media. Many also signed petitions in solidarity for Take Down Tobacco Day’s mission.

Reality Check is a youth led, adult supported movement in New York State that empowers youth to become leaders in their communities, exposing the manipulative and deceptive marketing tactics of the tobacco industry. Reality Check of Long Island is the youth component of Tobacco Action Coalition of Long Island.

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The Tobacco Action Coalition of LI is one of 21 Advancing Tobacco Free Communities’ grants funded by the NYS DOH’s Bureau of Tobacco Control and administered by the American Lung Association. Our grant is comprised of a community engagement and youth action component, Reality Check, who work collaboratively to promote environments open to creating a tobacco-free norm as well as educating and empowering our youth to become change agents within their communities.

[1] Help fight the injustice of menthol. Help Fight the Injustice of Menthol | NotJustMenthol.org. (n.d.). Retrieved April 18, 2023, from https://notjustmenthol.org/you...

[2]Flavored tobacco use among youth and young adults. Truth Initiative. (n.d.). Retrieved April 18, 2023, from https://truthinitiative.org/re...

[3] Kamara, B. K., Kamara, K., Levins, B. H., Levins, H., Weiss, B. M. B. M., Weiss, M. B. M., Bolas, M., Weiss, M., Thakrar, B. A., & Thakrar, A. (2022, May 3). Kids less likely to use unflavored tobacco products. Penn LDI. Retrieved April 18, 2023, from https://ldi.upenn.edu/our-work...

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