Lung Association Reacts to Colorado Decision to Subsidize Big Tobacco with Colorado Taxpayer Dollars

The American Lung Association in Colorado is appalled by decisions made by Governor Jared Polis, Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman and others to send hard-earned Colorado taxpayer dollars to Philip Morris International, one of the leading culprits in Big Tobacco’s decades-long effort to addict new generations of Americans to tobacco and nicotine products. What makes this decision even more outrageous is that the multi-millions of taxpayer dollars are earmarked for a facility to manufacture products that cannot even be legally marketed or sold in the United States at this time.

“Any expansion of manufacture and marketing of products that are proven to cause addiction in adults and teens is not a reason to celebrate, and that’s exactly what we’re seeing in Colorado,” said Nick Torres, Director of Advocacy for the American Lung Association in Colorado. “The warning signs are all here. In the “nicotine pouch” market, we’re seeing many of the same emerging trends that preceded JUUL driving the e-cigarette epidemic: a concentrated, highly flavored product, an expanding use of social media to market to young users, a dramatic uptick in sales, and data showing increased use among young people.”

According to the US Surgeon General, youth use of products containing nicotine in any form is unsafe. To be clear, these products remain on the market in violation of federal law. In April of this year, the Lung Association joined several of our nation’s most prominent public health organizations in a letter to urge the FDA to end its use of enforcement discretion, remove unauthorized products from the market, and never authorize such products to be sold in the United States.

“Just last week, Colorado announced the distribution of more than $17 million of settlement funds resulting from the state’s lawsuit against JUUL, which hooked countless young Coloradans to their products,” added Torres. “It is deeply concerning that the state, touted as one of the country’s healthiest, is now rolling out the red carpet for an industry with such a long history of addiction and death. Zyn is just the latest dangerous product from Philip Morris, the company that brought us the Marlboro Man and JUUL vape products.”