Tag: African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council

Success at New Year’s resolutions to quit smoking and/or vaping could be the brass ring of accomplishments in 2022.

Millions were spent by the tobacco industry to fight the efforts of lawmakers and citizens to stop killing smokers, primarily targeting Black communities, with constant invasion of poisonous addictive product. SB 793, which will prohibit the sale of flavored and mentholated products in California, awaits Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature.

Civil rights attorneys John Burris and Adante Pointer filed a legal claim against the Sacramento Sheriff’s Department on behalf of the 14-year-old boy who was brutally assaulted by Sacramento Sheriff Deputy Brian Fowell. Deputy Fowell is contracted out to the City of Rancho Cordova as a police officer.

Dr. Valerie Yerger, ND, of UCSF and Carol McGruder, co-chair of the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council (AATCLC), stood with Supervisor Malia Cohen, Mayor Ed Lee, Oakland Vice Mayor Annie Campbell Washington, researchers and community leaders as Cohen announced historic legislation restricting the sale city-wide of menthol and other flavored tobacco products in San Francisco.

Mt. Sinai Missionary Baptist Church of Los Angeles joined religious institutions across the nation as it hosted the first NoMenthol Sunday observance in Southern California. NoMenthol Sunday is a national interfaith effort that educates congregants about the role mentholated and candy-flavored tobacco products play in addicting African Americans to tobacco products.

The city of Chicago made history when it passed tobacco control legislation in mid-December that will regulate where menthol and other flavored tobacco products can be sold. Their bold ordinance will create a flavored tobacco buffer zone and prohibit the sale of menthol and other flavored tobacco products within 500 feet of Chicago schools.

In observance of World No Tobacco Day, African American anti-tobacco advocates in California and across the country are calling on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to ban menthol in cigarettes and other tobacco products. Advocates also are urging concerned groups and individuals to sign on to a historic citizen’s petition filed with the FDA in support of this national effort.

Tobacco-related diseases kill more Blacks than AIDS, violence and other non-tobacco related cancers combined. Over 160,000 African Americans will be diagnosed with cancer in this year alone. Whether it is from breast, prostate or lung cancer, The African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council urges all Californians to Vote Yes on 29!

I am sure that I speak for all cancer victims, cancer survivors and their families in voicing our wholehearted support for Prop 29. We want to unleash the power and creativity of California’s best and brightest researchers. Contrary to your comments, Dr. Porter, this funding will stay in California, but hopefully all Americans will one day benefit from the discoveries made in our great state.