Virginia gets low grades in new report from the American Lung Association

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - The American Lung Association is giving Virginia one of the lowest grades in the nation in its 21st annual State of Tobacco Control report.

The report looked at tobacco prevention and control funding, flavored tobacco products, and access to cessation services.

“Virginia receives an ‘F’ in all of those categories, with the exception of access to cessation, which they received a ‘D’,” American Lung Association Advocacy Director Aleks Casper said.

Casper says a big reason for the commonwealth’s poor grade is due to a lack of regulation when it comes to selling these products.

“Tobacco retailers in the state of Virginia are not required to be licensed,” se said. “Think about all the other services and products that you buy and use that are required to have a license.”

Casper says the list goes on: “If you buy food from a restaurant, they’re required to have a license. You buy or get your haircut, they’re required to have a license. But somebody can sell a dangerous product without a license in the state.”

Casper says creating some sort of licensing program would allow Virginia to monitor where these products are being sold so it can try and prevent them from ending up in the hands of children.

She also says the next step is getting rid of flavored nicotine products: “Youth have been marketed these products,” Casper said. “They have been targeted and marketed these products, or else we wouldn’t have gummy bear flavor, we wouldn’t have grape and strawberry, and they have been targeted to youth to start using these products.”

Do you have a story idea? Send us your news tip here.

Copyright 2023 WVIR. All rights reserved.