Today’s podcast episode explores a specific county-level fight over flavored tobacco products. I talk to three people working hard to keep our kids from developing a lifelong addiction to tobacco- Carrie Nyssen of the American Lung Association as well as Dr Lisa Reynolds and Dr Maxine Dexter.
Carrie Nyssen has been a life-long advocate and is currently with the American Lung Association as their Senior Director of Advocacy. She serves six states and has been with the Lung Association for twenty years
Dr. Lisa Reynolds MD has practiced pediatrics in Washington County for over 20 years, and in 2020 she was elected as the state representative for Oregon House District 36, focusing on early childhood issues, the need for affordable childcare, gun violence prevention and more. She also has two college age sons.
Dr. Maxine Dexter, MD is a lung and ICU doctor who has practiced here in Oregon since 2008. She currently represents House District 33, which includes most of unincorporated Washington County. She has focused on a host of issues, our state’s COVID19 response, a community information exchange for healthcare, clean energy and more.
Dr. Reynolds shares her perspective as a pediatrician, noting how easy flavored tobacco products are for kids to conceal from their parents. She also describes how these flavored products are heavily marketed to kids, how the marketing is challenging to resist, the playground exchange of these products, and more. We discuss the vulnerability of a child’s brain to the marketing, flavors and nicotine.
Dr. Dexter actually lost a patient to EVALI after trying to switch from combustible cigarettes to an e-cigarette. She and I both see the toll of nicotine products on adults. She also talks about how much Big Tobacco is fighting this- even receiving a push poll where the person who was asking her the questions was laughing along with her about the bias of the questions.
Both of them have raised kids through middle school and high school while these flavored nicotine products were spreading, and share stories about the widespread use of these products in bathrooms and more.
I’m sure nobody wants to pay more taxes, and a massive portion of any state and federal budget goes to healthcare expenditures. Right now, we also have worker shortages, and kids with lung disease miss more school days and nicotine-addicted adults also go on to have increased sick days, decreased productivity, and more.
Carrie Nyssen from the American Lung Association joins Lisa and Maxine in encouraging everyone to get involved in their local, state and national government and advocating for clean air and health.
For more information, see the “Flavor Free” post for more information about this upcoming important campaign!
To Do:
– If you are in Washington County, OR, please vote NO on measure 34-314 on the May 2022 ballot and encourage your friends and neighbors to do the same. If you live outside Washington County but know voters inside it, please reach out to make sure they vote. Go to FlavorsHookOregonKids.org to learn more.
– Post on social media and consider writing an Op-Ed about why you support a ban on flavored nicotine products.
– Find out if there is a flavor ban being considered in your county or state, and do what you can to support it.
– Write to your members of Congress and ask them to take action against flavored nicotine at the national level.
– Learn more about flavored tobacco, the history of menthol and targeting of the black community, as well as other tactics by Big Tobacco by listening to the podcast episode “A Heartbreaking Trap” and reading accompanying materials here.
– Learn more about health effects of e-cigarettes in the podcast episode “Gambling with Your Lungs” and reading more here. Learn more about the impact of flavors here.
– Learn more about how you or a loved one can break free of the nicotine habit here.
– Donate to the American Lung Association to help amazing people like Carrie keep advocating for the health of our communities.
TLDR= Don't Heat Flavored Oils and Breathe them into your Lungs
References:
American Thoracic Society- Statements on tobacco control
https://www.thoracic.org/advocacy/tobacco-control/
ATS in Action– Tobacco & Kids
https://www.thoracic.org/advocacy/tobacco-kids.php
American Lung Association: https://www.lung.org/stop-smoking/smoking-facts/e-cigarettes-and-lung-health.html
ATS Commentary for FDA nationwide flavor ban-
https://www.thoracic.org/advocacy/resources/07-13-18-ats-flavor-comments-submitted.pdf
- Provides a great deal of references for above flavoring characteristics
Images taken from commercial websites selling flavored e-cigarettes in addition to images stored by CounterTobacco.org and Stanford Research into the impact of Tobacco Advertising.
