Oklahoma and 33 other states and territories reached a settlement with Juul Labs after a two year investigation found the company willfully marketed to youth.
Juul will pay the states and territories $438.5 million, of which Oklahoma should receive around $9 million.
More importantly, the agreement prevents Juul from continuing to target youth through methods like cartoons, social media, product placement, branded apparel or providing free samples.
Vaping in Oklahoma and across the nation has skyrocketed in recent years. In 2019, more than 1 in 4 Oklahoma teens reported vaping in the last 30 days.
Many leading e-cigarette products contain more nicotine than an entire pack of cigarettes, and vaping aerosol has been found to contain dangerous substances, including arsenic and heavy metals like lead and nicotine. Studies show that nicotine increases anxiety and depression in teens.
TSET funds two FREE youth vape cessation programs, My Life, My Quit and Quit the Hit. For more information about these and other TSET programs, visit the TSET website.
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The TSET Board of Directors unanimously passed three resolutions supporting stronger tobacco control at its regular August board meeting.
Resolution 1: calls on the state legislature to close loopholes in tobacco control by enacting comprehensive clean air laws, amending law to include all new and emerging nicotine products, taxing e-cigarettes in line with traditional cigarettes and repealing measures that restrict local control of tobacco policies.
“Oklahoma has made great strides in reducing smoking, but the rise of e-cigarettes and other emerging products threatens to undo decades of progress,” said Michelle Stephens, chair of the TSET Board of Directors.
“Our laws need to catch up with the new threat these products present.”
Resolution 2: expresses support for recent FDA actions to reduce tobacco use, including prohibiting flavored cigars and menthol in cigarettes and the proposal to reduce nicotine amounts in cigarettes to non-addictive or minimally addictive levels.
Resolution 3: calls for additional reforms to laws prohibiting youth access to tobacco, including measures to hold retailers accountable for underage sales and funding adequate retailer education, outreach and enforcement programs.
The full resolutions can be found HERE.
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A study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health underscores the importance of digital engagement strategies within teen behavior change campaigns.
The study showed the TSET Swap Up campaign, a nutrition education series for teens, exceeded its Year 1 goals, reaching 72% awareness among Oklahoma teens within five months. More importantly, online campaign engagement was associated with an elevated number of self-reported healthy behaviors compared to those not aware.
Overall, teens felt the campaign was relevant and made for people like them. This finding is especially hopeful for an audience that is resistant to being “told” what to do.
To address a statewide need for obesity prevention, TSET launched Swap Up in 2021. Swap Up is the first known mass media nutrition education and obesity prevention campaign to attempt to reach adolescents across an entire state, including rural and urban audiences.
Read more about the study HERE.
The tobacco company RJ Reynolds allegedly offered a Detroit pastor and Black civil rights leader $250,000 to lead a campaign against banning the sale of menthol cigarettes in the U.S.
The FDA is considering the ban of menthol flavoring from traditional cigarettes, but Big Tobacco is fighting back, allegedly hiring community leaders to oppose the move.
The Rev. Horace Sheffield said he was asked to promote the idea that a menthol ban would lead to increased police brutality in Black communities. The tobacco industry has a history of marketing menthol to people of color and tying the flavor with Black culture.
Shortly after Sheffield wrote an editorial for the Detroit Free Press arguing in favor of the ban, he was approached by RJ Reynolds and offered money to change his stance.
“I felt as if my entire ethical constitution was being challenged. I felt as if I was being asked to do something that was completely against the grain of who I am and what I stood for.”
Nearly 93% of Black smokers start with menthol, and approximately 40,000 die of smoking-related diseases each year. Sheffield argues that a menthol ban would help "stem the tide of preventable disease and death" among Black Americans.
Read more about the proposed FDA rules HERE.
Perspective: Julie Bisbee in the Journal Record
By incorporating updated health education standards under a new mandate, Oklahoma has the opportunity to curb childhood obesity and set the next generation up to lead healthier, more active lives.
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School nutrition is crucial for the health and well-being of Oklahoma kids.
Episode 30 of the TSET Healthy Living Podcast focuses on school and child nutrition with Jennifer Weber, executive director of child nutrition at the Oklahoma State Department of Education; Heather Steele and Sheila Russell with Tulsa Public Schools’ Child Nutrition, and Valarie Carter, a classically trained chef seen on the Shape Your Future Healthy Kitchen segments on KJRH in Tulsa.
"[What's] incredibly rewarding to me is connecting kids and families with resources to hopefully end childhood hunger," said Steele.
"That's something I just think is really hard: to do anything else in life and be successful if you're hungry. And so, just finding equitable solutions to ending hunger is really important."
Available on TSET's website and everywhere podcasts are listened to: Spotify, TuneIn, Stitcher, PodBean, Google Podcasts and Apple Podcasts.
Click HERE to listen.
TSET is staffed by a dedicated and passionate group of people. This month, we would like to introduce Samantha Piñeiro.
Samantha is the Executive Assistant and Board Secretary for TSET. She started at TSET on Valentine's Day, 2022, but has nearly thirty years of experience in public service and non-profit administration.
Samantha comes to TSET after almost nine years with the Oklahoma Department of Corrections where she supported the Employee Rights and Relations unit and served as an administrative program officer for compliance of federal prisoner safety and wellness issues. She is certified as a Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Investigator.
Prior to her work in corrections, Piñeiro served as Director of Main Street Pauls Valley and of the Maysville Public Library.
Read about the rest of the team HERE.
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