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Our impact

A California without Big Tobacco isn’t just possible – it’s already happening.12

We’ve made a lot of progress towards ending the tobacco industry’s deadly influence in the last 30 years.345 But the fight’s not over.

Californians have worked with UNDO to stand up against Big Tobacco – we have achieved landmark wins and ushered in realities previously considered impossible. Most importantly, our collective action has saved more than one million lives.6789 And today, California has the third-lowest adult smoking and lowest youth vaping rates in the U.S.10

Since 1989, when UNDO began, our work has empowered local communities to establish policies that affect the use of tobacco products, reduce tobacco sales, and prevent young people from getting addicted. Together, we’ve protected our communities from secondhand smoke, dramatically reduced lung cancer rates, reduced smoking rates faster than the rest of the U.S., pioneered ways to help people quit smoking, ended the sale of flavored tobacco, and done so much more.111213141516

We’ve also hurt the tobacco industry where it matters most: their pocketbooks. We’ve kept more than $51.4 billion out of the tobacco industry’s pockets – saving Californians a staggering $500 billion in healthcare costs.17

In over three decades of work together, UNDO has shown that we have the power to shape our future in California – not the tobacco industry. 

A California without Big Tobacco isn’t just possible – it’s already happening.12

Our work has made an impact

Lowest

youth vaping rate in the US10

2nd state

to end the sale of most flavored tobacco products18

3rd lowest

adult smoking rate in the US with a 60% decrease in the adult smoking rate1019

2 California cities

have ended the sale of tobacco products12

42% decrease

in lung cancer rates in California12

1 million +

lives saved6789

$500 billion

saved in healthcare costs17

$51.4 billion

kept out of the tobacco industry’s pockets and 15.7 billion fewer packs of cigarettes sold over the past 30 years17

71% decline

in flavored e-cigarette and 95% decrease in menthol cigarette sales in 20232021
Manhattan Beach wins years-long fight against Big Tobacco

Manhattan Beach ends the sale of all tobacco products

City officials and residents teamed up to take on the tobacco industry. Together, they ended the sale of tobacco products in their community for good.

Learn more
Community wins over the tobacco industry

Humboldt County adopts tobacco retail licensing policy

Humboldt County leveraged community, partnership, and data to pass a Tobacco Retail Licensing (TRL) ordinance and improve their community’s health.

Learn more
Protecting low-income communities from tobacco harms

Smoke-free public housing: Helping people who smoke quit in San Francisco

Agencies, health professionals, and locals worked together to improve health outcomes and provide cessation services to residents in public housing.

Learn more
“

Big Tobacco is targeting us. So we’re targeting them back.

LAYLA, GALIA, and LIZZIE — SAN DIEGO, CA

Three high schoolers channel their outrage about nicotine harms into anti-tobacco advocacy.

Read more
“

When I quit smoking, I committed to something bigger.

KEENAN — COMPTON, CA

A father, chef, and Compton Cowboy honors his mom, who died from a tobacco-related illness, by breaking the cycle of family nicotine addiction.

Read more
“

It became really embarrassing to be the only one smoking.

FRANKIE — LOS ANGELES, CA

Frankie uses cigarettes to help her fit in – and quits when her addiction leaves her feeling like an outcast.

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Layla, Galia, Lizzy

Explore

Our mission
A California without Big Tobacco isn’t just possible – it’s already happening.12 Together, we’re undoing the tobacco industry’s epidemic.
Learn more about our mission
Our work
Our work brings together concerned Californians who want to protect their community and families from Big Tobacco’s epidemic. From research to community engagement tactics, we’re giving Californians the tools to fight the industry.
Learn more about our work

Tobacco industry’s damage

The tobacco industry currently spends billions each year on slick marketing tactics and political influence so they can profit off death and disease.2223
Learn more
Even for people who don’t use tobacco, there can be deadly consequences.24
Learn more
The industry calls kids their “replacement customers.”25 Big Tobacco sentences them to a lifetime of addiction and disease.
Learn more
This racist and unjust industry has strategically targeted certain communities with deadly products and manipulative messaging.26
Learn more
No one’s safe from the environmental damage and health risks from toxic tobacco waste and its plastic pollution.27282930313233
Learn more
Frankie and daughter

Protect the people and places you love

It only takes a moment to add your voice to the fight and protect Californians from the tobacco industry’s harms.

More ways to tell the industry you've had enough
  1. Beverly Hills City Ordinance No. 19-O-2783. June, 2019. Accessed June, 2024. https://www.beverlyhills.org/DocumentCenter/View/814/Ordinance-No-19-O-2783-PDF
  2. Action on Smoking & Health California. Phasing out the sale of tobacco products: Case Study Manhattan Beach. Updated September 2021, Accessed June, 2024. https://endtobaccoca.ash.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/CS_ManhattanBeach_V1_Final.pdf
  3. Roeseler A, Burns D. The quarter that changed the world. Tobacco control. 2010; 19(Suppl 1), doi: 10.1136/tc.2009.030809
  4. Tobacco Industry Efforts to Influence Tobacco Control Media Interventions. Monograph 19: The Role of the Media in Promoting and Reducing Tobacco Use. Published June 2020. Accessed March 11, 2024. https://cancercontrol.cancer.gov/sites/default/files/2020-06/m19_1.pdf
  5. "Master Settlement Agreement" (PDF). National Association of Attorneys General. 1998. https://www.publichealthlawcenter.org/sites/default/files/resources/master-settlement-agreement.pdf
  6. California's award-winning tobacco control program marks its 20th anniversary. News release. California Department of Public Health; April 7, 2009. https://www.globenewswire.com/en/news-release/2009/04/07/1184068/0/en/California-s-Award-Winning-Tobacco-Control-Program-Marks-Its-20th-Anniversary.html
  7. United Health Foundation. America's Health Rankings Analysis of CDC Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. AmericasHealthRankings.org. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://www.americashealthrankings.org/explore/measures/Smoking/CA
  8. U.S. Census Bureau. Census 2000 Summary File 2. Accessed May 20, 2024. https://data.census.gov/table/DECENNIALDPSF22000.DP1
  9. U.S. Census Bureau. 2020 Census Demographic Profile. Accessed May 20, 2024. https://data.census.gov/table/DECENNIALDP2020.DP1
  10. Neuling H. Key state-specific tobacco-related data & rankings. Updated January 3, 2024. Accessed March 22, 2024. https://assets.tobaccofreekids.org/factsheets/0176.pdf
  11. American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation. Matrix of smokefree outdoor air policies in California. Policy Evaluation Tracking System. January 2024. Accessed February 3, 2024. https://pets.tcspartners.org/files/Matrix%20of%20Outdoor%20SHS%20Policies_January%202024.pdf
  12. California Cancer Registry. Age-adjusted invasive cancer incidence rates in California; lung and bronchus, 1988-2017. Accessed June 24, 2024. https://www.ccrcal.org/retrieve-data/data-library/#273-205-statistical-tables-1665511786
  13. Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2017. Sacramento, CA: California Department of Public Health; October 2018
  14. Kick It California. Updated 2023. Accessed August 20, 2024. https://kickitca.org/
  15. Flavored tobacco products 2020. Senate Bill No. 793. Accessed June 25, 2024. https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB793
  16. California Department of Public Health, California Tobacco Control Program. 30 Years of Success and Innovation: Celebrating the Past, Present, and Future of Tobacco Control in California. Sacramento, CA: California Department of Public Health; 2020.
  17. Lightwood J, Anderson S. Health Care Cost Savings Attributable to the California Tobacco Control Program, 1989 to 2018. UCSF: Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education. Published July 26, 2020. Accessed June 25, 2024. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/53b9b8fz
  18. Flavored tobacco products 2020. Senate Bill No. 793. Accessed June 25, 2024. https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB79
  19. California Department of Public Health, California Tobacco Prevention Program. California Tobacco Facts and Figures 2024. Sacramento, CA: California Department of Public Health; May 2024. https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CCDPHP/DCDIC/CTCB/CDPH%20Document%20Library/ResearchandEvaluation/FactsandFigures/CaliforniaTobaccoFactsAndFigures_2024.pdf
  20. CDC Foundation. (2023). Monitoring U.S. E-Cigarette Sales: State Trends Data Brief. Issue 11, September 2023. Accessed July 10, 2024. https://www.cdcfoundation.org/QuarterlyE-CigaretteSalesDataBrief_9.10.2023.pdf?inline
  21. CDC Foundation. (2023). Changes in US and state cigarette sales following flavored tobacco sales restrictions (2018-2023). Data Brief. Published October 2023. Accessed July 10, 2024. https://www.cdcfoundation.org/CigaretteDataBrief-24.01.18.pdf?inlinE
  22. Federal Trade Commission. Federal Trade Commission Cigarette Report for 2020. Washington, D.C.: Federal Trade Commission. October, 2021. Accessed July 10, 2024. https://www.ftc.gov/reports/federal-trade-commission-cigarette-report-2020-smokeless-tobacco-report-2020
  23. Open Secrets. Industry Profile: Tobacco. Summary of 2021. Accessed July 10, 2024. https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/industries/summary?cycle=2021&id=A02
  24. (24) U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The health consequences of involuntary exposure to tobacco smoke: a report of the surgeon general. Office of Smoking and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Published 2006. Accessed July 10, 2024. https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/classic/research/apr/reports/l4000a.pdf
  25. UCSF Industry Documents Library. Younger adult smokers: strategies and opportunities. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. Published February 29, 1984. Accessed July 10, 2024. https://www.industrydocuments.ucsf.edu/docs/rkvk0045
  26. Anderson SJ. Marketing of menthol cigarettes and consumer perceptions: a review of tobacco industry documents. Tob Control. 2011;20 Suppl 2(Suppl_2):ii20-ii28. doi:10.1136/tc.2010.041939
  27. Break Free From Plastic. Branded Vol. III Demanding corporate accountability for plastic pollution. Brand Audit 2020. Published 2020. Accessed July 10, 2024. https://brandaudit.breakfreefromplastic.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/BFFP-Brand-Audit-Report-2020.pdf
  28. Poma A, Vecchiotti G, Colafarina S, et al. In Vitro Genotoxicity of Polystyrene Nanoparticles on the Human Fibroblast Hs27 Cell Line. Nanomaterials (Basel). 2019;9(9):1299. Published 2019 Sep 11. doi:10.3390/nano9091299
  29. Zarus GM, Muianga C, Hunter CM, Pappas RS. A review of data for quantifying human exposures to micro and nanoplastics and potential health risks. Sci Total Environ. 2021;756:144010. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.144010
  30. Jacob H, Besson M, Swarzenski PW, Lecchini D, Metian M. Effects of Virgin Micro- and Nanoplastics on Fish: Trends, Meta-Analysis, and Perspectives. Environ Sci Technol. 2020;54(8):4733-4745. doi:10.1021/acs.est.9b05995
  31. Ziv-Gal A, Flaws JA. Evidence for bisphenol A-induced female infertility: a review (2007-2016). Fertil Steril. 2016;106(4):827-856. doi:10.1016/j.fertnstert.2016.06.027
  32. Campanale C, Massarelli C, Savino I, Locaputo V, Uricchio VF. A Detailed Review Study on Potential Effects of Microplastics and Additives of Concern on Human Health. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17(4):1212. Published 2020 Feb 13. doi:10.3390/ijerph17041212
  33. Belzagui F, Buscio V, Gutiérrez-Bouzán C, Vilaseca M. Cigarette butts as a microfiber source with a microplastic level of concern. Science of The Total Environment. 2021;762:144165. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.144165