PACT Notes

In both 1990 and 2016, Pennsylvania had the 22nd highest age-adjusted death rate. Compared to other areas with similar socioeconomic qualities, Pennsylvania had 27 percent more years of life lost due to lung cancer than expected in 2016. Tobacco use and a high BMI were the top two risk factors in Pennsylvania contributing to premature death or years living with a disease. The prevalence of tobacco use in Pennsylvania has dropped 38.6 percent between 1990 and 2016, though not as much as the national average (42.8 percent). These data can be used to inform tobacco control policy.

The linked map shows U.S. federal and state laws that regulate the required age for purchase, possession, and use of e-cigarettes, product definitions for e-cigarettes, nicotine ingredient requirements and whether states include e-cigarette use in their definition of smoking. It also includes sale and use location restrictions, licensing requirements, as well as product packaging and online purchasing requirements.

Seven public health and medical groups, and several individual pediatricians, filed suit in federal court in Maryland challenging a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decision that allows electronic cigarettes and cigars – including candy-flavored products that appeal to kids – to stay on the market for years without being reviewed by the agency. Although the groups strongly support the FDA’s new efforts to reduce nicotine levels in cigarettes to minimally or non-addictive levels, they also believe that the FDA’s August 2017 decision to exempt e-cigarettes and cigars from agency review for years to come is unlawful and harms public health.