A ban on flavored cigarettes isn’t simple
A ban on the sale of flavored cigarettes is now in effect, and one would think the rights of people have been irreversibly diminished.
Rather, the intent of the Food and Drug Administration was to pull those candy-sweet projects from shelves to stop youngsters from starting what could be a lifelong addiction to smoking.
The ban has upset anti-government types who claim they have a right to smoke what they want. The ban, required under a law enacted in June, gave the FDA the power to regulate tobacco products. Despite what some think, it’s a welcome first step to rein in what has become in effect a rogue industry that sells death to individuals, and drives up public health care costs.
And as could probably be expected, there are signs some manufacturers, distributors and retailers are trying to circumvent the ban by shifting young smokers to other flavored products, such as small cigars, that may not fit the legal definitions of a cigarette.
Let’s remember that we’re talking about flavored tobacco, because artificial additives like cherry, grape, chocolate, and spices such as cloves, appeal to youngsters. Let’s also remember that in anticipation of the ban, cigarette makers had mostly stopped producing flavored cigarettes.
Unfortunately, the law itself is vague in that it doesn’t clearly define what a cigarette is. It comes down to wrapping. Cigarettes are wrapped in thin paper, cigars in tobacco leaves. While the cigars also are made with a different
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kind of tobacco, the taste is similar. The cigars come 12 to a pack, rather than 20 for cigarettes, but cost nearly half as much.
Kretek International Inc., which imports Djarum-brand cloves from Indonesia, holds a 97 percent U.S. market share with its line of Djarum clove cigarettes, a staple of Indonesian smoking culture. Now Kretek is making cigars close to the size of a cigarette and flavored with clove, vanilla and cherry.
The FDA is now examining options to regular both menthol cigarette and flavored tobacco products other than cigarettes. It makes no sense to ban flavors in cigarettes and then allow the industry to addict young people to flavored cigars.
