Success Story: Using Local Data to Pass Policies for Tobacco Prevention in Golden Valley, Minnesota
We have a new success story about one of our partners that serves as a great example of a local area passing strong tobacco prevention policies. In 2019, the city of Golden Valley in Hennepin County, Minnesota passed a number of comprehensive tobacco prevention policies, and in [More]
UNC and PHLC release Policy Playbook For E-cigarettes
University of North Carolina's Vaping Prevention Resource and Public Health Law Center recently released the Policy Playbook for E-cigarettes. The Playbook provides state and local stakeholders with a framework of policies and practices to pursue, guidelines on policy implementation, case studies, and examples. As a supplement, Public [More]
Meet our staff: Mollie Mayfield, Senior Project Director and Managing Editor, CounterTobacco.org
Mollie Mayfield is Senior Project Director and Managing Editor of CounterTobacco.org at Counter Tools. She loves being inspired by people that work to improve the health of their communities and introducing folks to point-of-sale tobacco control work. Learn more about Mollie’s background and passion for policy work [More]
Considering social vulnerability and health equity in COVID-19 vaccine allocation
Health equity is being considered in discussions of vaccine allocation for perhaps the first time in our history. Official recommendations for vaccine distribution may include the CDC’s Social Vulnerability Index as a way of incorporating the disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 on certain communities into determination of priority [More]
Tobacco Retailer Licensing Considerations for Rural Communities
In the United States, rates of tobacco use are higher in rural than urban populations, yet rural communities often lack the tobacco control policy coverage present in more urban areas. While there are several reasons why policy adoption may be more challenging in rural areas, some rural [More]
Strategies to Create Healthier Food Retail Environments
Many neighborhoods lack access to traditional supermarkets and other sources of fresh, healthy food, especially at an affordable price. Making healthy choices easier in the retail environment has the potential to make a significant impact on the health of communities. Here are a few recommended strategies to [More]
Letter to FDA on Prohibiting Menthol Cigarettes
The undersigned public health and medical organizations write to urge the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to grant the pending Citizen Petition referenced above and commence the requested rulemaking to prohibit menthol as a characterizing flavor in cigarettes. The menthol Citizen Petition was filed over seven years [More]
Meet our staff: Maria Julian, Executive Director
Maria Julian is the Executive Director at Counter Tools. She loves working to bring positive change to critical issues in place-based public health. Learn more about Maria's background and what inspires her in her staff profile below. Tell us a little bit about your background before you [More]
Counter Tools releases stance on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
Counter Tools has released a stance that defines how we approach equity, diversity, and inclusion with our current partners and clients and those we have the opportunity to work with in the future. Included is our overall vision and key ways we will continue to address equity, [More]
Counter Tobacco Podcast: Equity in Point-of-Sale Tobacco Control (Episode 22)
This episode is all about working towards health equity with point-of-sale tobacco control. We discuss some of the drivers behind inequities in tobacco use and related morbidities and mortality, and how we can use a pro-equity approach to plan, implement, and enforce policies that allow all individuals [More]
Tobacco Control Enforcement for Racial Equity – A joint statement from public health organizations
This fall, Counter Tools joined a working group of public health advocates to develop a collective statement on equitable tobacco control enforcement. More than 40 public health organizations endorsed and released the statement this month, titled Tobacco Control Enforcement for Racial Equity: Decriminalizing Commercial Tobacco – Addressing [More]
Inspiration from a SOPHE webinar on equity and anti-racism in public health
Systemic inequities such as racism impact individuals across the social determinants of health and create unequal opportunities for individuals to stay healthy. In an engaging webinar from SOPHE, the panelists shared insights on racism in the context of both public health and society at large, and offered [More]
Reflecting on Indigenous Peoples’ Day and how to become a better ally
This week marked Indigenous Peoples’ Day, which recognizes Native Americans as the first inhabitants of the Americas. In this tumultuous year as we have renewed our focus on inequities and health disparities, we must be sure to reflect and learn about the experiences of Native Americans and [More]
Trust for America’s Health releases recommendations to address obesity crisis
Access to healthy food or safe places to be active is inconsistent across communities and research shows that socioeconomic factors including poverty and race/ethnicity contribute to an increased rate of obesity. The State of Obesity 2020 report provides evidence-based policy recommendations for addressing the obesity crisis using [More]
Counter Tobacco Podcast: On Your Radar – September Spotlight on Flavor Bans (Episode 21)
'On Your Radar' is a new episode format designed to put the most relevant and recent news stories and research on countering tobacco product sales, promotions, and marketing in the retail environment on your radar. This episode spotlights flavor bans. From the West Coast (California) to the Midwest (Edina [More]
Nebraska passes T21 policy and adds electronic smoking devices to their Clean Indoor Air Act
Counter Tools is thrilled to congratulate Nebraska, one of our partnering states, on two exciting policy victories! LB1064 This bill makes Nebraska the 33rd state to pass statewide T21 legislation. By raising the minimum legal sale age (MLSA) to 21, the state now aligns with the federal [More]
Counter Tobacco Podcast: On Your Radar – August POS News (Episodes 19 & 20)
Released as two mini episodes throughout the month, 'On Your Radar' is a new episode format designed to put the most relevant and recent news stories and research on countering tobacco product sales, promotions, and marketing in the retail environment on your radar. Part 1, released August 14th, covers Georgia's Tobacco 21 [More]
Healthy POS Webinar Series: Securing Healthy Food Access through Targeted Programming
Our recent quarterly webinar in Counter Tools' Healthy POS series focused on healthy food and produce prescriptions. Public health advocates are increasingly focused on interventions that address social drivers of health. With produce prescriptions, healthcare providers address food security in the healthcare setting by connecting their patients [More]
California passes ban on the sale of flavored tobacco products
We’re excited by the news that California’s State Assembly recently passed a bill prohibiting the sale of flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes. We know that the tobacco industry has long targeted Black communities and youth with flavored products. Prohibiting the sale of flavored tobacco products may [More]
Reducing Tobacco Disparities with Minimum Floor Price Laws
According to the Surgeon General, raising the price of tobacco products is one of the most effective strategies for reducing initiation, decreasing consumption and increasing cessation. While excise taxes are a common strategy for increasing tobacco prices, minimum floor price laws are another promising non-tax strategy with [More]
