When it started pushing for firmer laws, “we were killed at every turn,” he remembers. “The industry hated this idea and they used their very potent political lobbying power to stifle it in every state.”
Archival tobacco industry documents show why the companies objected, says Stan Glantz, the director of University of California San Francisco’s Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education.
“It’s because it made it harder to market to kids,” he says. “[It’s] very hard to design a marketing campaign where the nominal target [is] … people who are 21, and still pick up 12-year-olds.”
Since the beginning of the Tobacco 21 movement, the industry landscape has changed considerably. Now millions of teens are hooked on e-cigarettes, a source of considerable public concern.
Health advocates are currently pushing for more sweeping regulations than the age limit raise, such as banning flavors for e-cigarettes — something the industry has fought. University of Virginia historian Sarah Milov, who wrote a book about tobacco, says the big companies have likely been willing to accept the stricter age limits “in order to take the public’s eyes off of other proposals for addressing youth vaping.”
Glantz says he thinks the new federal age restrictions give the industry “something they can argue: ‘Well, we’ve done enough. You don’t need to get rid of flavors,’ which in terms of reducing youth tobacco use is probably the single most important thing to do right now.”
Matthew Myers, the president of Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, echoed that idea. He said in a statement that the new law “will not bring about meaningful change, but will lead to the tobacco companies falsely claiming that the youth e-cigarette problem has been solved even as it continues to grow worse every day.”
In an op-ed earlier this year in The Hill, Altria CEO Howard Willard said the Food and Drug Administration made clear that the company might find itself in trouble with federal regulators unless it did more to address teen vaping.
“Put simply, we cannot continue to expand … [e-cigarettes] for adults unless we help curb youth access to all tobacco products, including e-vapor,” Willard said. Altria owns Philip Morris USA, which makes Marlboro cigarettes.
The federal age limit raise comes after a rapid succession of new laws at the state and local levels. At least 19 states and the District of Columbia have passed some form of the 21 age limit, many in the past year and with the support of big companies.
But Glantz says he sees a familiar strategy from the industry as these laws have passed. In this and previous fights, he says tobacco companies will preemptively lobby for bills that are weak or don’t spell out effective enforcement mechanisms.