Counter Tobacco Podcast

In this episode, we're talking about the environmental impact of commercial tobacco products. Despite not typically being at the forefront of commercial tobacco prevention and control efforts, now more so than ever, it is paramount to understand how commercial tobacco products negatively impact our environment. You’ll hear about the manufacturing of tobacco, the use of non-biodegradable cigarette filters which remain the world’s mo...

In this episode, we are talking about advocacy through the eyes of youth. On May 16-19th, youth groups and organizations from around the country came together in-person in Washington D.C. to meet each other, participate in activities, learn more about the tobacco industry, and rally against one of the largest tobacco companies, Altria. One of these groups is Reality Check out of New York, who organizes this Mobilize Against Tobacco...

In this episode, we’re taking a look into the future! Each January, we make some predictions about the top trends in retail tobacco prevention and control work to pay attention to. In this episode, we walk you through each of our 8 categories of focus for 2023. They are:

• a focus on health equity in pos tobacco control
• comprehensive bans on the sale of flavored tobacco products
• tobacco retailer licensing
• a changing tobacco prod...

In this episode, we're talking about contracts between tobacco retailers and tobacco companies and their impact on the retail environment with our guest, Allie Reimold, MA.

Allie is a doctoral student in the Department of Health Behavior at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. She studies how the private sector creates retail environments that ultimately impact chronic disease. Her current work utilizes mixed methods ap...

In this episode, we're talking all about preemption. Earlier this year, along with our partners at ChangeLab Solutions, we published a resource on this topic called the Tobacco Point of Sale Preemption Playbook. It equips tobacco prevention staff and their partners with the knowledge, context, and resources needed to understand how preemption influences their work. In this episode, we talk through some of the basics of what preemp...

In this episode, we provide a primer on tobacco-related Assurance of Voluntary Compliance (AVC), which are legally binding and enforceable agreements between companies (i.e. big tobacco retailers) and one or more states (under each state attorneys general) in which the retailer agrees to adhere to certain standards and practices to reflect their commitment to the responsible marketing of tobacco products. Common examples of these s...

In this episode, we talk about point-of-sale pricing policies, meaning ways to raise the price of tobacco sold in retail stores. Raising prices is one of the most effective ways to reduce tobacco use initiation, decrease consumption, and increase cessation. Learn how point-of-sale pricing policies, including minimum floor prices and bans on price discounts and coupon redemption, can complement tax increases to keep prices high and ...

Endgame strategies have been defined as, “initiatives designed to change/eliminate permanently the structural, political, and social dynamics that sustain the tobacco epidemic, in order to end it within a specific time,” and moving towards the endgame means, “moving beyond tobacco control (which assumes the continued presence of tobacco as a common, widely-available ordinary consumer product) toward a tobacco-free future wherein co...

In this episode, we talk with Natasha Phelps, a Lead Senior Staff Attorney at the Public Health Law Center, about the recent statement on “Decriminalizing Commercial Tobacco: Addressing Systemic Racism in the Enforcement of Commercial Tobacco Control” that was released last year by a consortium of public health organizations. We take a deeper dive into that statement, discussing the values outlined in it as well as some practical w...

In this episode, we talk with Dr. Amanda Kong, one of the authors of a recent paper "Boosting the Tobacco Control Vaccine: recognizing the role of the retail environment in addressing tobacco use and disparities." We discuss how key retail strategies, including addressing product availability, pricing and promotions, advertising and display, the minimum age of sale, and retail licensure can complement those in the original Tobacco ...

On Your Radar' is a new episode format designed to put the most relevant and recent news stories and research on countering tobacco product sales, promotions, and marketing in the retail environment on your radar. This episode spotlights flavor bans. From the West Coast (California) to the Midwest (Edina and Fridley, MN & Chicago, IL), we've got you covered on the most recent news surrounding restrictions on the sale of flavored to...

This episode is designed to answer all your questions about heated tobacco products, or as the industry refers to them, "heat-not-burn" products. This episode covers their design and safety, assesses their marketing and current regulation, examines a bit of the newer research and literature on the products, explains the FDA's 'modified risk' label authorization for the IQOS H...

This episode is the first in what we hope will be a new series called, 'Authentic Voices', where we speak with individuals in communities across the US to hear how their lived experiences and interactions in the retail environment impacted their journey with tobacco.

In this episode, we speak with Shaun Pryor, a...