NEWS

Teens make their case for St. Paul to ban candy cigarettes
Source: Pioneer Press
Date: April 2, 2009
View the full artcile at http://www.twincities.com/ci_12051352?nclick_check=1

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Ramsey Tobacco Coalition (RTC) has been working to reduce the harm caused by tobacco in Ramsey County since 1997. RTC has been a leader in reducing youth access to tobacco, enforcing tobacco-free school ground poilcies, adopting tobacco-free park policies, adopting tobacco-free policies for youth clubs and youth-serving agencies, and adopting smoke-free workplace laws in Ramsey County and St. Paul.

RTC is comprised of 23 active partner organizations and is currently working to reduce youth exposure to tobacco influences. This project has conduced the first of its kind assessment and intervention of tobacco industry influences in Ramsey County and two neighboring cities in Dakota County (South St. Paul and West St. Paul).

The focus of the project is to reduce the tobacco marketing and advertising practices by:

• Identifying the level and types of tobacco influences in our area
  
• Comparing the influences in inner city neighborhoods with those in suburban communities, and low income neighborhoods with middle and upper income neighborhoods within the city
  
• Identifying any ways in which these industry influences may violate the legal restrictions created by local, state, and national laws, and legal settlements.
  

RTC is assessing and advocating for change in the following areas:

• Point-of-sale advertising (in-store signs, promotions, outdoor signs, branded store fixtures and paraphernalia, etc.)
  
• Promotional and sales practices designed to target youth (self-service displays, power walls, loosies, candy flavored tobacco, placement at children's eye level, etc.)
  
• Acceptance of tobacco industry donations and sponsorships within distinct ethnic and socio-economic communities in the targeted region.
  

We believe the tobacco industry uses all of these tactics to normalize tobacco use and influence youth by shaping the environment in which they live, and that these influences are specifically tailored to reach low SES, Latino/Hispanic, African American, Asian, and Caucasian youth.

The project is using our research findings to advocate for changes in industry behavior, enforcement of legal restrictions and, where possible and appropriate, policy change to reduce tobacco industry influences.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tobacco Advertising Assessment Preliminary Findings

Research Background:
Point-of-sale tobacco advertising data were collected in the summer and fall of 2007 by the Association for Nonsmokers—Minnesota (ANSR) staff as part of the Ramsey Tobacco Coalition (RTC) project funded by the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH). The point-of-sale advertising and promotion environment was assessed in a census of all of the licensed tobacco vendors in Ramsey County, Minnesota (MN) and in the cities of South St. Paul, MN and West St. Paul, MN by trained data collectors.

View the preliminary findings (PDF)