SALEM, Ore. –– On the first day of the 2025 Oregon Legislature, advocates of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network call on lawmakers to finish the job and end the sale of menthol cigarettes and all other flavored tobacco 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 health care costs statewide for every Oregonian.
“It’s time to end this problem once and, truly, for all,” ACS CAN Oregon Government Relations Director Kari Hampton said. “We appreciate that legislative solutions take time, but this should have been done two years ago and, in that time, thousands of Oregon kids have tried tobacco for the first time, many through flavored products. The stakes are just too high to not get it done now.”
In the 2023 session a bill supported by ACS CAN and many other leading health advocacy organizations advanced before a lawmaker walk-out curtailed much of the state’s important business. Similar legislation was not introduced in the 2024 short session, but must be a 2025 priority, with more than 26,000 Oregonians diagnosed with cancer in 2024 and nearly 9,000 deaths, nearly 28% of which can be attributed to smoking. Meanwhile, countless children have been exposed to the marketing of products that drive these numbers into the future as Big Tobacco invests nearly $91million each year into Oregon alone.
ACS CAN is joined in this call by many health advocacy organizations as well as the municipal governing bodies passing local resolutions. These include the cities of Happy Valley, Lake Oswego, Milwaukie, Newport, Depoe Bay, Siletz, Waldport and Deschutes, Lincoln and Klamath counties. All are among those to formally call on the State Legislature to end the sale of all flavored tobacco products.
ACS CAN also supports legislation to expand access to needed and proven biomarker testing. Biomarker testing can be used to identify the most effective treatment for patients with cancer and other serious illnesses. It can open the door to precision treatments that can improve outcomes and quality of life for patients with many diseases and conditions. Similar legislation has passed in 20 states including California, Texas, Georgia and Arizona.
In cancer care, biomarkers are often used to help determine the best treatment for a patient. This testing can sometimes rule out unnecessary or ineffective treatments, potentially saving costs and avoiding potentially life-altering side effects.
“Insurance coverage for biomarker testing in Oregon has not kept pace with the latest developments,” Hampton said. “A patient who needs biomarker testing should have the chance to work with their doctor to know the best path forward for identifying potentially lifesaving or extending treatments. Oregonians deserve to benefit from the latest treatments and research advances, and this legislation can help them do that."