HEALTH EQUITY - CENTERING EQUITY IN COMMERCIAL TOBACCO POLICY - for New York State

HEALTH EQUITY April 2024 CENTERING EQUITY IN COMMERCIAL TOBACCO POLICY for New York State Law and policy are essential tools for improving public health, creating and reinforcing social norms, and addressing health disparities, especially when communities experience disproportionate harms, such as from the use of commercial tobacco.1 Laws, in the form of statutes or codes, ordinances, and administ. [...] Health equity3 is a state in which everyone has a fair opportunity to reach the highest possible standard of health and where differences in the quality of health for individuals and populations are eliminated.4 Health equity can be achieved by addressing the social determinants of health, which include the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, learn, work, and age, and the broader set. [...] For example, with the establishment of a tobacco retail licensing system, communities can limit the sale of flavored products and restrict the location, density, number, and type of tobacco retailers. [...] Sample language could read: “No license will be granted to any person for a retail establishment location that is within [1,000] feet of a youth-oriented facility, as measured by the shortest line from the property line of the space to be occupied by the proposed licensee to the nearest property line of a youth-oriented facility.” A recent study evaluated the impact of New York City’s policy of ca. [...] Menthol products were left out of the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, and the tobacco industry tries to replicate this exemption at the state and local level to continue profiting (continues) www.publichealthlawcenter.org Centering Equity in Commercial Tobacco Policy for New York State 8 .