NRN Alert: Chicago, IL Health and Human Relations Public Hearing (Flavor Ban)

Ordinance Number 2020-3388 has been introduced for consideration by the Chicago City Council that would ban the sale citywide of all flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes, flavored smokeless tobacco, flavored cigars, pipe tobacco, and flavored electronic cigarettes/nicotine vapor products.

The Chicago Health and Human Relations Committee will be holding a public hearing on July 6, 2020 regarding Ordinance #2020-3388. It is imperative to have calls and emails sent to the Chicago City Alderman who serves on the council and represents the ward where your store is located asking the alderman to remove menthol cigarettes and traditional flavored tobacco products from the proposed ordinance.

*Due to Covid-19, the public will not be allowed at the committee meeting.

Chicago Health and Human Relations Committee Meeting Details:
Date: Monday, July 6, 2020
Time: 10:00 AM Central

Determine which alderman or aldermen represent the ward or wards where your store(s) are located. Click on the link below and type in store address to determine the name, phone number, and e-mail address of your alderman.
https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/mayor/iframe/lookup_ward_and_alderman.html

Call and E-Mail Your City Council Alderman. The talking points to use to oppose a total flavored tobacco product sales ban are:

  • Addressing the youth vaping epidemic should not lead local governments to overextend to other tobacco products.
  • Banning the sale of all traditional flavored tobacco products including menthol cigarettes, flavored smokeless tobacco products, flavored cigars, and pipe tobacco is government overreach. This will only create other problems by shifting sales from law-abiding retailers to potentially illegal sources who don’t check IDs.
  • Both youth and adult use of these traditional flavored tobacco products is at historic lows and decreasing further.
  • Tell your city council alderman that traditional flavored tobacco products should be removed from the ordinance.

In addition, send an e-mail to all members of the Chicago Health and Human Relations Committee by 9:00 AM on July 6, 2020 urging them to remove traditional tobacco products. The e-mail address for the committee is committeeonhealthandhumanrelations@cityofchicago.org.

Copies of the proposed ordinance and full City Council contact spreadsheet are attached. Thank you for your help in contacting your Chicago City Alderman.


Please contact Meghan Shea with NATO at meghanshea@natocentral.org with any questions or for further information related to the NRN Alerts.