California Approves Flavored Tobacco Ban

On Aug. 24, 2020, the California Assembly approved a ban on the retail sale of flavored tobacco products within the state. The ban would include candy and fruit-flavored e-cigarette and vapor products and menthol cigarettes, but is expected to exempt hookah, premium cigars and pipe tobacco products.

California’s Senate Bill 793 (S.B. 793) has dominate headlines in recent months. Tobacco manufacturers have pushed back against the legislative bill, with some tobacco companies running advertising campaigns claiming that the bill discriminates against Black and Latino consumers by seeking to ban menthol cigarettes. As reported by the Los Angeles Times, Assemblywoman Shirley Weber (D-San Diego), who is the chairwoman of the California Legislative Black Caucus, responded to this accusation by calling it an insult that the “tobacco industry would make an effort to make us believe that mentholated cigarettes are part of African American culture, and that this is a discriminatory piece of legislation against Black people.”

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