Tobacco Continued from previous page . . .
ity of measures that protect the public.”
study shows that despite the much lower “dose”, secondhand smoke affects blood and blood vessels in ways that increase the risk of heart disease and attacks. California Environmental Protection Agency concludes that secondhand smoke causes breast cancer in younger women.
ports that e-cigarette use among middle and high school students doubled between 2010 and 2011. All major U.S. cigarette companies are selling e-cigarettes. At WHO’s request, UCSF researchers Grana, Benowitz, and Glantz prepare Background Paper on E-Cigarettes (Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems), which recommends e-cigarettes be subject to the same rules as cigarettes. New York City becomes the first major municipality to raise age for sales of all nicotine and tobacco products to 21. UCSF becomes a tobacco-free campus.
2006 • California Air Resources Board identifies secondhand smoke as a “Toxic Air Contaminant.” U.S. Surgeon General issues “The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke,” which concludes that even brief secondhand smoke exposure can cause immediate harm, and that the only way to protect nonsmokers from the dangerous chemicals in secondhand smoke is to eliminate smoking indoors. 2008 • San Francisco becomes first place in the U.S. to end sale of tobacco in pharmacies. Michael Bloomberg and Gates Foundation commit $500 million to combatting the global tobacco epidemic and call on governments to act to reduce tobacco use.
2009 • Federal cigarette tax increased by 69 cents, bringing the federal tax to $1.01. San Francisco enacts 20-cent fee per pack of cigarettes sold to recover the cost of cleaning up cigarette butts. President Obama signs Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, giving Food and Drug Administration regulatory authority over tobacco products. U.S. Federal Court blocks FDA regulation of e-cigarettes as drug delivery devices, fueling marketing of e-cigarettes. U.S. Court of Appeals affirms Judge Gladys Kessler’s 2006 ruling that the major cigarette companies constructed an illegal “racketeering enterprise” to defraud the American people by covering up the health risks associated with smoking and marketing their products to children.
2010 • Belmont, CA becomes the first local government to prohibit smoking in all market rate multiunit housing. World Health Organization calls for enforceable policies to end on-screen smoking in films rated for youth. San Francisco extends ban on tobacco sales in pharmacies to grocery and big-box stores with pharmacies. President Obama signs the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law, requiring insurance companies and employers to cover tobacco cessation treatment. 2011 • FDA issues regulation requiring larger, graphic warning labels illustrating the negative health consequences of smoking. Cigarette companies sue FDA and block graphic warning labels.
2012 • Lorillard Tobacco becomes first cigarette company to
enter e-cigarette business when it buys Blu eCigs. Cigarette companies spend $46 million to defeat California Proposition 29, a $1 cigarette tax increase to fund medical research and reinvigorate the state tobacco control program. U.S. Surgeon General concludes that exposure to on-screen smoking causes young people to smoke. WHO Director General Margaret Chan delivers landmark speech at the World Conference on Tobacco or Health, calling multinational tobacco companies “bullies” who “[Pay] people to use a country’s judicial system to challenge the legal16
2013 • U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention re-
2014 • European Union’s new Tobacco Products Directive requires large pictorial warnings on cigarette packs in 2016, a traceability system in 2019, a ban on menthol in 2020, and a regulatory framework for e-cigarettes. New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco include e-cigarettes in their smokefree laws; 164 cities take such action in 2014. U.S. Surgeon General report concludes that cigarettes are even more deadly than 50 years earlier and cigarette companies have been responsible for 20 million premature deaths since 1964. U.S. Surgeon General reports that R-rating future movies with smoking will avert a million U.S. tobacco deaths. NIH and FDA select UCSF as one of 14 Tobacco Centers for Regulatory Science. CVS Pharmacy stops selling tobacco products nationwide; other major pharmacies Wal-Mart, Walgreen and Rite Aid refuse to follow CVS lead. Entire University of California becomes 100% smoke-free and tobacco-free. 2015 • UCSF launches third generation of tobacco documents library, renamed Truth Tobacco Documents Library, with 88 million pages in 15 million documents as part of online UCSF Industry Documents Library. San Francisco caps number of tobacco retailers at 45 per supervisorial district. San Francisco becomes the first city to prohibit the use of smokeless tobacco at all sport and playing fields; California follows with statewide legislation. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that exposure to secondhand smoke has been cut in half since 2000, from 53% in 2000 to 25% in 2012, leaving 58 million people still exposed, mostly African-Americans, children, and the poor. CVS pulls out of U.S. Chamber of Commerce after New York Times exposes the Chamber’s work on behalf to undermine tobacco laws globally. Berkeley passes California’s first ordinance prohibit the sale of menthol and other flavored tobacco products within 600 feet of schools and playgrounds. Hawaii raises the age for sales of all nicotine and tobacco products to 21. Tobacco incidents in top grossing U.S.-produced films fall to historic low.
Stanton Glantz, PhD, is Professor of Medicine in the Cardiology Division and director of the UCSF Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education. He conducts research on the health effects of secondhand smoke, the health and economic effects of tobacco control policymaking, and the policymaking process. The tobacco industry has unsuccessfully sued UCSF twice to block his work.
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