TFND Announces Winner in 4th Annual Video Essay Scholarship Contest

Tobacco Free North Dakota is happy to announce the winner of our fourth annual Video Essay Scholarship Contest: Brooklyn Benno from De Lacs-Burlington High School. Benno, a graduating senior, was also active in FBLA, FFA, Student Council, and National Honor Society. She served as the North Dakota FBLA State President for the 2020-2021 term. Brooklyn will be attending Bismarck State College in the fall to study occupational therapy and play basketball and softball for the Mystics.

“We had a lot of quality submissions to this year’s contest,” said Heather Austin, Executive Director of TFND. “Brooklyn’s video was incredible and it’s so rewarding to TFND to see many young people wanting to stay tobacco free.”

You can watch the video by clicking the link here.

Big Tobacco Exposed 2021 Contest Winners

TFND partnered with Bismarck-Burleigh Public Health for the fourth Big Tobacco Exposed contest. The competition gives students from Bismarck State College and United Tribes Technical College graphic design programs a chance to design a poster showing the importance of healthy lungs. Students from the University of Mary Health Professions program judged the submissions.

 

We had 21 entries this year! TFND presented checks on April 9 to the winner and runners up. Congrats to our winners and everyone who participated!

 

Research from NDSU on compliance with North Dakota’s Smoke-Free air law

If you haven’t had a chance to see Kelly Buettner-Schmidt’s (a professor with NDSU) article regarding Compliance with North Dakota’s smoke‐free law among vape and tobacco specialty shops, you should! Click here to give it a read.

WGME: Bills aim to raise taxes on cigarettes, ban flavored tobacco products in Maine

Maine legislators are looking at two bills related to tobacco products. One is a tax increase which is one of the CDC’s best practices. The other is a flavored product ban, which more studies are showing is an effective tool to help stop youth initiation.

To read the full article, click here.

FDA Starts Process Banning Menthol Cigarettes

The Biden administration announced a plan to start the rule-making process to ban menthol cigarettes in the United States. This would not take effect for a few years. TFND supports this process as menthol products have had a devastating effect on public health, especially in minority communities. A study published in February shows from 1980 to 2018, menthol cigarettes were responsible for 10.1 million extra smokers, 378,000 premature deaths and 3 million life years lost during this time period. This amounts to nearly 10,000 premature deaths and over 265,000 new smokers each year over the 38-year period.

Read the full FDA release by clicking here

KSTP: Bloomington to end sales of flavored tobacco, sunset all tobacco licenses

The Bloomington City Council voted 4-2 to end the sale of all flavored tobacco products, including menthol. That ban will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2022.

The ordinance also allows for the sunsetting or end of all tobacco licenses in the city, and the city decided to not issue any new tobacco licenses in the future.

To read the full article, click here.

CDC and FDA: Youth Switching to Disposable E-products

The CDC and FDA sent a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine detailing a shift in how youth are using vaping products. The letter confirms youth are switching to disposable products. To learn more about the developing trend and read the letter, click here.

PuffBar Defies FDA Order and Brings Products Back to Market

Puff Bar was ordered to take their products off the market by the FDA. They’ve brought them back in an effort to skirt FDA regulations and get youth hooked on nicotine. Read more about their move in this Wall Street Journal article.

TFND’s Video Essay Scholarship Contest is Back!

TFND is happy to announce the Video Essay Scholarship Contest is back for North Dakota high school seniors! The winner will get a $1,000 scholarship. For more information, click on the “Video Essay Scholarship Contest” Tab.

Alaska Public Media: Anchorage Assembly moves to include vaping, e-cigarette products in tobacco tax

The Anchorage Assembly passed an ordinance to include all vaping products in the city’s tobacco tax. The full story can be read by clicking here.