Press Releases
08/15/2025
Attorney General Tong Leads Bipartisan Letter to CDC and HHS in Support of National Youth Tobacco Survey
(Hartford, CT) — Attorney General William Tong today led a bipartisan coalition of 22 states in submitting a comment letter to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Department of Health and Human Services supporting continuation of the National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS). The NYTS is an annual study to assess the use of smoking and vaping among middle and high school students. The survey provides valuable insight into youth tobacco use and emerging products and has shaped efforts led by Attorneys General to curb youth tobacco use for over two decades.
The letter is submitted in response to a CDC invitation for public comment on continuation of the NYTS. The CDC notes that it intends to make revisions to the 2026-2028 NYTS but has yet to identify specific proposed changes. The CDC has recently eliminated its Office on Smoking and Health and has replaced leaders and cut staff at the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, which regulates the tobacco industry.
The letter highlights the bipartisan work of attorneys general nationwide to address youth exposure to tobacco and nicotine products, and how NYTS data has informed and supported those critical efforts.
In 1998, 52 state and territorial Attorneys General entered into a settlement with the four largest tobacco companies in the United States to resolve dozens of lawsuits. Among other important objectives, Attorneys General brought these lawsuits to recover billions of dollars in health care costs associated with treating smoking-related illnesses and to reduce and prevent smoking in the United States, especially among youth. The settlement bars the tobacco companies from misleading the public regarding the negative health impacts of tobacco use and has generated over $171 billion in ongoing payments from the tobacco companies to the states.
The settlement further requires the Attorneys General and the tobacco companies to meet every three years to coordinate efforts to reduce youth tobacco use, an effort that relies heavily on NYTS data.
In addition to the tobacco settlement, Attorneys General have undertaken several initiatives to limit youth exposure to tobacco and nicotine products. These efforts include urging film studios, creative guilds, and streaming platforms to curb tobacco imagery in popular media, entering into agreements with major retail chains to limit the accessibility and appeal of products to youth in the retail environment, and enforcing a range of state-specific tobacco control and consumer fraud laws.
In 2022, Attorney General Tong led 34 states and territories in reaching a $438.5 million agreement with JUUL Labs, resolving a two-year bipartisan investigation into the e-cigarette manufacturer’s marketing and sales practices. In addition to the financial terms, the settlement forced JUUL to comply with a series of strict injunctive terms severely limiting their marketing and sales practices.
In January 2025, as part of a coordinated coast-to-coast crackdown on bootleg nicotine products, Attorney General Tong served civil investigative demands on 12 Connecticut smoke shops and convenience stores and two wholesalers. Connecticut’s civil investigative demands seek comprehensive information to determine how these unapproved, unregulated, and illegal e-cigarettes are entering the state. That investigation is active and ongoing.
“These critical efforts rely on NYTS information, including comprehensive data and insights regarding youth tobacco use, product trends, prevalence rates, knowledge and attitudes about tobacco use, access to tobacco products, and risk factors influencing initiation and continued use. NYTS data is used to help Attorneys General monitor youth smoking rates, as required by the tobacco settlement, and provides a reliable, public source of youth tobacco use data. NYTS surveys children in both high school and middle school, providing unique data for younger students who are not included in other national surveys. This extensive information on how and why young people use tobacco and nicotine products enables Attorneys General to focus their resources on the most effective policies and enforcement measures to address the constantly evolving retail market. Additionally, NYTS data has been crucial in alerting the States to emerging tobacco products and was the first national indicator of the youth e-cigarette epidemic. It is essential that Attorneys General have continued access to data collected in the rigorous fashion employed by NYTS to inform our efforts as we work to reduce youth tobacco use,” the letter states.
In submitting today’s letter, Attorney General Tong is joined by the Attorneys General of Arizona, California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Puerto Rico.
Assistant Attorneys General Amor Rosario and Heather Wilson, Deputy Section Chief for Tobacco Enforcement, and Deputy Associate Attorney General Phil Miller, Chief of the Finance Section, are assisting the Attorney General in this matter.
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