THE REVERE ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, AUGUST 5, 2022 Page 7 Board of Health to consider tobacco regulation changes By Adam Swift L ater this month, the Board of Health will vote on updated regulations for tobacco and vape products. Chief among the proposed changes is a move that could eventually lower the number of tobacco sales licenses in the city. At its July 28 meeting, the Board of Health agreed to include language that would put an advanced cap on the number of tobacco licenses in the city. Currently, the city has 60 tobacco licenses. Under an advanced cap, if a business turned in their tobacco license to the city, that license would no longer be available for a new business, ultimately lowering the number of tobacco licenses in the city over time, according to Public Health Director Lauren Buck. Buck said that approach has been taken in Winthrop. “So, there is an ever-dwindling number of permits for the city,” said Buck. “The theory behind this is to try to continue to reduce the number of tobacco retailers in the city.” However, if a retailer were sellBEACH | FROM Page 2 “Save the Harbor/Save the Bay is calling on Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders to instruct the Department of Public Health (DPH) to conduct a public and comprehensive review of posting accuracy on the Commonwealth’s Beaches,” said Mancini. “We are also calling for DPH and the Bureau of Environmental Health to do their jobs. It is time for them to update and translate their website as nearly every other state agency has done, and make accurate, timely information about current water quality on the Metropolitan Beaches available to all the region’s residents, no matter what language they speak.” According to Save the Harbor/ Save the Bay’s Director of Strategy and Communications, Bruce Berman, the nonprofi t advocacy group undertook this study when they realized during an annual data review that more than 80% of the postings on Constitution Beach were wrong in 2021, while 100% were wrong in 2020. “To suggest that posting outdated results that are nearly always wrong protects the public health in any way is simply ing a convenience store with a tobacco license, that license could be transferred to the new owner as long as the business remains in the same location, according to Buck. Board of Health Chair Dr. Drew Bunker said he supported the advanced cap on tobacco licenses in the city. “Obviously, the advanced cap is a little more regulation, but at the end of the day, the role of these laws is to limit tobacco sales, or to make it as safe as possible because we know the harm that tobacco does,” said Bunker. “It is reassuring to me that there is another town that does it.” Lisa Stevens-Goodnight, the tobacco control coordinator of the Massachusetts Municipal Association, said there could be some pushback from retailers on the number of tobacco licenses in the city decreasing, but she also noted that the reduction in permits could potentially make them more valuable to those business owners who already have one. The board also agreed to include language in the regulations that will codify the pensilly,” said Berman. “The Department of Public Health and the Department of Conservation & Recreation must do better. Save the Harbor and our policy team and partners are ready to help.” According to Save the Harbor/ Save the Bay’s Policy Assistant, Caroline Adamson, a candidate for an MS in public health at Boston University’s School of Public Health, “Our preliminary analysis of the data since 2016 suggests that ‘precautionary postings’ based on the previous day’s rainfall are more than twice accurate as the required postings for this beach (46% inaccurate vs. 80% inaccurate, or 54% vs 20% accurate).” “In his very fi rst order in the Boston Harbor Cleanup case, U.S. District Court Judge A. David Mazzone said that The Law secured to the People the Right to clean water,” said Mancini. “Inaccurate postings like these rob people, especially people in Environmental Justice communities like East Boston, of their right to enjoy the benefi ts of our enormous public investment in clean water.” For more information about this study, contact Berman at 617-293-6243 or by email to bruce@bostonharbor.com. For Advertising with Results, call he Adv cate Ne spapers call The Advocate Newspapers at 781-286-8500 or Info@ advocatenews.net alties for selling tobacco to minors, with a three-day suspension for the fi rst violation within 36 months, seven days for the second violation and 30 days for the third violation. The board also agreed that the suspensions would have to be served on consecutive days. In addition, at its August meeting, the Board of Health will also consider whether it wants to ban the sales of blunt wraps and rolling papers. Bonny Carroll, the director of the Six-City Tobacco Initiative, which includes Revere, said blunt wraps contain tobacco and that some rolling papers have fl avor enhancers that could entice younger people to smoke tobacco. She said the board could decide whether it would want to prohibit the sale of all rolling papers, or just those that are fl avor enhanced. While the city did update its tobacco regulations in 2019, Buck said, the Board of Health is taking steps to update its regulations again because of new state regulations that went into eff ect shortly after Revere updated its local regulations. www.eight10barandgrille.com We Have Reopened for Dine-In and Outside Seating every day beginning at 4 PM WE'RE OPEN! 8 Norwood Street, Everett (617) 387-9810 STAY SAFE! Like us on Facebook advocate newspaper Facebook.com/Advocate.news.ma Open a 2-year CD with one of the region’s highest rates. 419 BROADWAY. EVERETT, MA 02149 771 SALEM ST. LYNNFIELD, MA 01940 WWW.EVERETTBANK.COM Member FDIC | Member DIF
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