SALEM, Oregon – March 4, 2024 – Cancer patients, survivors, youth advocates and others from throughout Oregon gathered at the Capitol building to ask legislators to stop the Tobacco Industry from targeting our kids by ending the sale of menthol cigarettes and all other flavored products.
Big Tobacco continues to use flavors to target its next generation of customers for diminished health outcomes, which leads to countless deaths as well as significant increases in healthcare costs statewide for every Oregonian.
"Big Tobacco is preying on our children, using flavors to lure in their new customers. Yet Oregon lawmakers let another legislative session go by without doing anything about it," said Jamie Dunphy, Oregon Government Relations Director for ACS CAN. "We're not letting them go home for the year without a reminder of what they must prioritize when they step foot back in this building in 2025. Oregon must end the sale of ALL flavored tobacco products."
In the 2023 session, a bill supported by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network and many other leading health advocacy organizations advanced before a lawmaker walk-out curtailed much of the state’s important business. Disappointingly, similar legislation was not introduced in this year’s short session, but must be a priority in 2025, with more than 26,000 Oregonians expected to be diagnosed with cancer in 2024 and nearly 9,000 expected deaths. Beyond that, in that time, hundreds of thousands of children will be exposed to the marketing of products that drive these numbers into the future.
ACS CAN is joined in this call by many state health advocacy organizations as well as the municipal governing bodies of Happy Valley, Lake Oswego, Milwaukie, Newport, Depoe Bay, Siletz and Waldport, as well as the Parkrose School Board and the Tualatin-Tigard School Board. All have formally called on the State Legislature to end the sale of all flavored tobacco products.
The visit was part of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network’s annual Cancer Action Day, an event that brought more than 50 Oregonians affected by cancer together to call on the Legislature to make cancer a priority and keep tobacco’s deadly products out of the hands of Oregon’s kids.
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About ACS CAN
The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) advocates for evidence-based public policies to reduce the cancer burden for everyone. We engage our volunteers across the country to make their voices heard by policymakers at every level of government. We believe everyone should have a fair and just opportunity to prevent, detect, treat, and survive cancer. Since 2001, as the American Cancer Society’s nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate, ACS CAN has successfully advocated for billions of dollars in cancer research funding, expanded access to quality affordable health care, and advanced proven tobacco control measures. We stand with our volunteers, working to make cancer a top priority for policymakers in cities, states and our nation’s capital. Join the fight by visiting www.fightcancer.org.