More information is being demanded by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration about tobacco related products that come in a variety of flavors that children may mistake for candy.

According to Reuters, the products, made by Reynolds American Inc’s R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co and by Star Scientific Inc, contain powdered “smokeless” tobacco and are brightly colored, with flavors such as coffee and mint.

Products such as Snus, a no-spit tobacco pouch meant to be placed under the upper lip, are aimed at adults who must deal with a growing number of smoking bans in public places as well as those looking to stop smoking.

Another product called Orbs is a dissolvable breath-mint sized tobacco that can easily be mistaken for a Tic-Tac.

Health educator Isa Kaluhikaua told Reuters that if a child ingested three Orbs, they would get ill, and 10 could result in serious illness.

She said even though most of these products can be purchased off the shelf, the FDA has not yet approved them.

A letter from the FDA to Reynolds and Star Scientific said it was concerned that the products could draw in children and teenagers. Use of the products could lead to nicotine addiction and could even cause health problems from the ingestion of too much nicotine, the FDA said.

FDA is “concerned that children and adolescents may find dissolvable tobacco products particularly appealing, given the brightly colored packaging, candy-like appearance and easily concealable size of many of these products,” Lawrence Deyton, head of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, wrote February 1.

The company was not surprised by the letter and said they would cooperate fully.

“We’re happy to share information with them,” Sara Troy Machir rold Reuters.

While the FDA, in its letters to the two companies, acknowledged the products are marketed to adults, it nonetheless asked both manufacturers for extensive information on research and marketing practices for the products.

R.J. Reynolds markets three types of similar products under its Camel brand that deliver dissolvable nicotine in tablet, mouth strip and small matchstick-like forms.

CITY HALL — Two tobacco companies are suing the city over a law banning retailers from selling candy-flavored tobacco products, Council Speaker Christine Quinn said Tuesday.

But the city is determined to snuff out such products across all five boroughs, the speaker said.

“It is clearly another example of the unfettering greed of the tobacco industry,” Quinn said at a press conference Tuesday afternoon.

“But it is not something we are afraid of. This is a solid law. This is a smart law. So go ahead big tobacco, you can bring it on.”

The ban goes into effect on Feb. 25 and prohibits the sale of various products, including flavored cigars and cigarillos (short, narrow cigars that are wrapped with whole-leaf tobacco). The products come in an assortment of flavors ranging from apple martini to chocolate chip cookie dough.
Quinn and advocates from health and clean air groups charge that the products, which have three to six times the tobacco found in regular cigarettes, are deliberately disguised by multi-colored wrapping and sweet flavors to lure young people into buying tobacco products and eventually becoming life-long nicotine addicts.

“I looked at the pack here and I thought, ‘Gummy bears,’” said Joanne Koldare, director of the NYC Coalition For a Smoke Free City. “They have created what appears to be, for children, a smooth seamless transition from candy to tobacco products. But we’re onto them.”

According to the city’s Department of Health, the number of youths who smoke cigars and cigarello have almost tripled since 2001, from five to 14 percent, Quinn said.

The city’s law comes on the heels of a federal law, enacted this summer, that bans the sale of flavored cigarettes (except for menthol) across the United States.

But tobacco companies argue that the city doesn’t have the legal right to enact such a law.

“Localities should allow the FDA to consider issues like this one in a regulatory process that allows for public comment,” said Bill Phelps, a spokesman for Altria, the parent company for the two companies filing the lawsuit.

“We believe that the ban is bad policy because it unfairly denies adults who use tobacco products access to the products they prefer,” Phelps told DNAinfo, adding that the ban would have a negative impact on the local New York City economy.

“At a time when the economy is suffering, it’s putting additional pressure on businesses,” he said. “We don’t think it makes a lot of sense.”

Pablo Hussein, who works in a Delancey Street bodega on the Lower East Side, said the store would lose “a couple hundred dollars” of sales when the ban goes into the effect — a small sum compared to what Altria may lose.

“We can sell other things,” said Hussein, pointing at the magazines, lotto tickets, snacks and cigarettes, lining the store’s shelves. “We are the little store in between. It is the big companies that have a problem.”

By Suzanne Ma, Dnainfo.com

WASHINGTON – U.S. health officials are seeking more information about the possible attraction and addiction of flavored, dissolvable tobacco products that regulators worry look too much like candy and can entice children.

The products, made by Reynolds American Inc’s R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co and by Star Scientific Inc, contain powdered “smokeless” tobacco and are brightly colored, with flavors such as coffee and mint.

Companies have argued that the products, which include dissolvable tablets, are aimed at adults who must deal with a growing number of smoking bans in public places as well as those looking to stop smoking.

But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, in letters to Reynolds and Star Scientific released late Tuesday, said it was concerned that the products could draw in children and teenagers. Use of the products could lead to nicotine addiction and could even cause health problems from the ingestion of too much nicotine, the FDA said.

While laws vary among the U.S. states, most limit tobacco purchase to those 18 and older.

FDA is “concerned that children and adolescents may find dissolvable tobacco products particularly appealing, given the brightly colored packaging, candy-like appearance and easily concealable size of many of these products,” Lawrence Deyton, head of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, wrote February 1.

The letters come as the FDA prepares to hold its first public meeting on tobacco issues later this year. Agency officials have quickly moved to flex their new oversight of tobacco products after a new law granted them the power last year.

Any move by the FDA to further regulate or even remove dissolvable tobacco products from the U.S. market would be a huge blow to Star Scientific. The one-time cigarette manufacturer has shifted its focus to making products it says expose consumers to lower levels of toxins.

Sara Troy Machir, a spokeswoman for Star Scientific, said the company was not surprised by the letter and would cooperate fully.

“We’re happy to share information with them,” Machir said, adding that Star’s smokeless products — Ariva and Stonewall — have been on the market for 10 years.

Representatives for R.J. Reynolds did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

R.J. Reynolds markets three types of similar products under its Camel brand that deliver dissolvable nicotine in tablet, mouth strip and small matchstick-like forms.

The two companies have been embroiled in a patent dispute over some of the technology behind the dissolvable products.

While FDA in its letters to the two companies acknowledged the products are marketed to adults, it nonetheless asked both manufacturers for extensive information on research and marketing practices for the products.

Star Scientific and Reynolds have two months to respond.

By Susan Heavey, Reuters

Thu Feb 4, 2010

Don’t tell David Neville that those grape-flavored mini-cigars behind the counter at every local convenience store are aimed at mature smokers.

“They’re already hooked,” Neville says of longtime smokers. Instead, tobacco companies are targeting “the kid with the grape Slurpie that comes to the counter,” wondering if the sweetened nicotine will complement his drink, Neville says. Or whether the chocolate-mint flavored chew — packaged to look like chewing gum — will boost his reputation with peers.

As state legislators prepared to open debate on a perennially proposed tobacco tax hike, a lot of Utah parents may be unaware of the “mainstream” ways their children are being targeted by nicotine marketers, said Neville, director of the Utah Department of Health’s Tobacco Prevention and Control program.

While it’s difficult to compare addictions between tobacco, alcohol and hard drugs because they have different effects on the brain, quitting tobacco, once someone is addicted, “is as difficult as quitting heroin or cocaine,” he said.

Utah recently got an “F” from the American Lung Association for its lack of tobacco prevention and control spending — something controlled exclusively by state legislators, many of whom take money either directly or indirectly from tobacco companies. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says Utah legislators only provide about 35 percent of the recommended funding for tobacco control efforts.

Neville said 90 percent of people who begin using tobacco do so before the legal age of 19 — and the variety of tobacco products that appeal directly to children and teens continues to grow, along with the flavors used to disguise its taste.

The Lung Association also gave Utah a “D” for its relatively small tobacco tax -— currently 69.5 cents per cigarette pack — and an “F” for tobacco cessation programs. Neville said the latter focus “more on policy and less on services provided,” including the free Utah Tobacco Quit Line, 1-888-567-TRUTH. The confidential help line provides free nicotine patches or gum to those working to quit, and up to five free counseling sessions. The state also offers a free Web site at www.UtahQuitNet.com to help connect people with others trying to quit and to answer questions.

The Lung Association did give Utah an “A” in the smoke-free air category, noting improvement in laws that restrict smoking in public places.

Though the state has the lowest percentage of smokers in the nation, Neville said, more than 190,000 Utahns are still addicted, “and 80 percent of them don’t want to be.” Tobacco usage causes $369 million in annual smoking-attributable medical expenses and $294 million in lost productivity each year, Neville said.

Though retailers, in particular, have voiced opposition to the tax, Neville believes it’s simply a usage fee, like the gas tax. “If you don’t want to pay the gas tax, you don’t drive a car. You take public transit. It’s the same with tobacco. If you don’t want to pay it, then quit.”

He’s convinced that if the tax increase is approved, more people will stop smoking. He cited a 200 to 300 percent spike in calls to quit lines last year after a national tobacco tax increased last year.

“A lot of people want to quit,” he said. “They just need that final impetus to push them to where they really want to go.”

The FDA has recently warned more than ten online cigarette stores that their operation will be halted if they keep selling banned flavored cigarettes, thereby violating particular provisions of federal regulation, according to which, sales of flavored cigarettes are prohibited across the United States.

The Agency gave those online stores fourteen days to prove that they have removed banned smokes from their stock; otherwise they would be subject to penalties.

Sales of all flavored cigarettes, besides the menthol smokes, are banned starting from September 22, 2009.
The corresponding ban is a component part of groundbreaking Tobacco Control Act that was ratified in July and gave the U.S. Food and Drug Administration the legal powers to control tobacco industry.

The law comprises provisions concerning advertisements restrictions, prohibition of misleading cigarette names like low-tar, mild and light, since they make smokers consider them healthier than full-flavor cigarettes.
The notifications were addressed to a dozen of internet cigarette retailers that have not stopped selling flavored cigs after the ban had been implemented.

The data about the offenders was collected by the agents of Enforcement Department of the Food and Drug Administration, which are involved in ensuring compliance with the regulations and punishing the violators.
Similar notifications had been earlier sent to local tobacco retailers and importers, warning them about the legal liability if they planned to continue sales of flavored cigarettes after the ban implementation.

Among those merchants who received the FDA letters were both domestic sellers and overseas ones, who reach US customer through their online stores. The notifications comprised an article from Tobacco Control Act declaring that any cigarette sold in US should not contain any flavoring agent of either artificial or natural origin, or any herb or spice that adds a peculiar flavor to the cigarettes.

If the cigarettes offered by the retailer’s web-store do contain any flavors besides menthol, they are regarded as illegal or fake and would be penalized. In addition, if the products have no flavor, but are labeled as flavored, they would be as well penalized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Merchants located outside of the country were warned that the Agency would continue to track the products available at their online cigarette stores, and in case of non-compliance with the legislation, their shipments will be confiscated by the Customs Services. In addition, the FDA will contact the authorities in their home countries and notify them that the shipments from their countries are to be halted at the border.

Jerome E. Horton, Vice Chairman of the California State Board of Equalization (BOE), announced that the BOE has notified wholesalers and distributors that it is illegal to sell flavored cigarettes or roll-your-own (RYO) under the federal U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) provision of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. The BOE sent a special notice by email informing them of this new federal regulation.

Under federal law, these products can no longer be manufactured, imported, or sold in the United States and could be seized by federal, state or local law enforcement authorities. Cigarettes and RYO products banned by the FDA have been and continue to be removed from the California Tobacco Directory by the California Attorney General and the California Department of Justice.

This federal ban prohibits a cigarette or any of its component parts (including the tobacco, filter, or paper) from containing, as a constituent (including a smoke constituent) or additive, an artificial or natural flavor (other than tobacco or menthol) or an herb or spice, including strawberry, grape, orange, clove, cinnamon, pineapple, vanilla, coconut, licorice, cocoa, chocolate, cherry, or coffee, that is a characterizing flavor of the tobacco product or tobacco smoke.

For general information regarding the FDA´s Tobacco Program and the ban on flavored cigarettes and RYO products, please refer to the FDA´s website at www.fda.gov/TobaccoProducts/default.htm.

Flavored cigarettes are now illegal and those of us working to snuff out oral cancer in America are thrilled. But the news gets even better – the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act has given the U.S. Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate how tobacco companies manufacture, market and sell tobacco products.

This is a great win in the battle against tobacco-related diseases, especially for our youth. Flavored cigarettes entice children and teens to become smokers, and the tobacco industry has exploited this through youth-oriented marketing. According to the FDA, teens are three times more likely to use flavored cigarettes than are smokers over the age of 25.

Nicotine, a main ingredient in cigarettes, is one the world’s most addictive drugs. According to the American Heart Association, nicotine has historically been one of the hardest substance addictions to break. Every day 3,600 children and teens start smoking cigarettes and 1,100 will become daily users.

I applaud the FDA’s efforts to reduce the appeal cigarettes have on children and teens. The American Cancer Society says almost 90 percent of adult smokers tried their first cigarette at or before the age of 19. A 2007 study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control found that half of high school students have tried cigarette smoking at some point. The ban on flavored cigarettes will help limit the risk for tobacco-related diseases like oral cancer, which causes 8,000 deaths a year.

To further reduce death and disease caused by tobacco products, the FDA should examine what options it has under the new law for regulating menthol cigarettes and other tobacco products, including smokeless tobacco such as chewing or dipping tobacco, dissolvable tobacco tablets and snuff.

Tragically, smokeless tobacco products are incorrectly perceived as safe alternatives to cigarettes. They are not; their use can be deadly. In the U.S., 13.4 percent of high school boys and 2.3 percent of high school girls use smokeless tobacco products, according to the CDC.

Tobacco is dangerous in all forms. Smokeless tobacco products contain 28 toxic and cancer-causing agents, including formaldehyde, cyanide, butanol, arsenic, polonium-210 and uranium-235. These ingredients also are found in rat poison, radioactive nuclear waste, industrial solvents and embalming fluid.

Every year, an estimated 34,000 Americans are diagnosed with oral cancer. Thanks to the FDA’s new powers, that number may begin to decline.

Take a long drag of your Warm Mocha Mint Cigar – it might be the last you buy in the city. Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed the ban on flavored tobacco into law yesterday. But before you hyperventilate, read the fine print: the ban doesn’t include clove or menthol cigarettes or even flavored hookah.

The city council proposed the ban as a way to “to protect the children of New York City,” Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan) said during the vote. The number of high school students who smoke only cigars and cigarillos has tripled since 2001, the council said, and the fruity flavors might be to blame.

And experts agree. Michele Bonan, regional director of advocacy for the American Cancer Society, told the Daily News that flavored tobacco is “Big Tobacco’s version of training wheels.”

By: Rebecca Huval, NYpress

The faint scent of cherry, vanilla or chocolate can no longer be detected in the cigarette smoke that lingers over the small patch of asphalt leading past Rand Hall or the walkway adjoining Uris and Olin Libraries. The smoke of regular, straight tobacco prevails these days as a direct result of a recent federal ban on cigarettes enhanced with fragrances.

The ban, which took effect Sept. 22, applies to the manufacture, shipment or sale of cigarettes flavored to taste like cloves, candy or fruit. As part of a national effort by the Food and Drug Administration to reduce smoking in the United States, this provision belongs to the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which President Barack Obama signed into law on June 22.

Under this legislation, the FDA has the authority to regulate the marketing and manufacture of tobacco products, though it cannot ban regular cigarettes, cigars or smokeless tobacco.

“… A cigarette or any of its component parts (including the tobacco, filter, or paper) shall not contain, as a constituent…or additive, an artificial flavor or natural flavor (other than tobacco or menthol) or an herb or spice, including strawberry, grape, orange, clove, cinnamon, pineapple, vanilla, coconut, licorice, cocoa, chocolate, cherry or coffee, that is a characterizing flavor of the tobacco product or tobacco smoke,” according to the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.

The FDA maintains that cigarettes flavored to taste like cloves, candy or fruit lure children into smoking. FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, M.D. stated that approximately 90 percent of adult smokers start smoking as teenagers in a news release last month. These flavored cigarettes act as a gateway for many children and young adults to become regular smokers, according to Hamburg.

While the ban also applies to flavored loose tobacco, which smokers can use to roll their own cigarettes, it does not extend its reach to pipe tobacco — such as the tobacco used in hookahs — chewing tobacco or cigars.

One notable exemption is menthol-flavored cigarettes, which remain legal in the wake of the month-old ban. Congress explicitly declined to prohibit mentholated cigarettes, which are statistically the most popular type of flavored cigarettes and a significant source of revenue to tobacco companies. A federal menthol ban could potentially spark an enormous bootlegging crisis, according to congressional aides and tobacco activists, the Wall Street Journal recently reported.

The legislation outlining the ban, however, fails to clearly define what constitutes a cigarette. The primary distinction between cigarettes and cigars is the wrapping: while cigarettes feature tobacco wrapped with paper, cigars feature tobacco wrapped in tobacco or paper derived from tobacco. Another tobacco product, the cigarillo, is smaller than a typical cigar but larger than a small cigar.

Confusion remains over whether cigarillos like Black & Mild — which manufactures cigarillos with flavors such as apple, cherry, and vanilla — fall under the scope of the ban. Clove cigars are also stirring controversy. According to Prof. Richard Klein, Romance Studies, “clove cigarette manufacturers, [primarily] based in Indonesia, have already found ways to circumvent the law by manufacturing little clove ‘cigars’ which do not fall into its purview.”

Kretek International, Inc., the top national distributor of clove cigarettes, has recently filed a lawsuit against the FDA for “deliberately obfuscating” the “definition of a cigarette.” The distributor’s new line of Djarum clove cigars have come under investigation by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

In the local Cornell and Ithaca communities, smokers and non-smokers alike question the effectiveness of the ban and its objective of deterring youth from smoking.

Mary Godec ’11 lauded the notion of trying to reduce smoking among youth, but doubted the impact the ban will continue to have. “The FDA ban is a step in the right direction, as far as preventing younger people from starting a bad habit is concerned, but it won’t be a particularly effective step,” she said. “New smokers will likely turn to menthol cigarettes, the only flavored cigarette left in the market.”

Godec also disagreed with the authority granted to the FDA to regulate tobacco products. “The ban hasn’t affected me directly, but it has made an impact in the sense that it’s yet another infringement on my freedom to smoke,” she said.

Admitting that the ban on flavored cigarettes could potentially deter a subset of the youth from smoking, Shachia Kyaagba ’11 still harbored some skepticism. “I believe the ban will reduce the number of children who start to smoke, but not by a significant quantity,” he said. “Peer pressure is still there, so kids will still start to smoke regardless of the flavor of the tobacco.”

Drawing from his personal experiences, Jin-Sung Kim ’11 noted that he has never observed somebody start to smoke with flavored cigarettes. “The effectiveness of such a ban seems tenuous at best. Most smokers [that I know] have experimented with flavored cigarettes only after smoking for a while,” he said. “It seems like this ban might be hurting clove cigarette aficionados more than it is helping keep the youth smoke-free.”

Local Ithaca smoke shops have felt the subtle effects of the ban, as consumers look for close substitutes to flavored cigarettes. According to Brian Watson, a sales employee at Mayers’ Smokeshop and Newsstand, “[the ban] has made a small dent [in sales], but the ban seems to be more punitive than anything to be concerned about.”

Eric Thorsen, a sales employee at Mayers’ Smokeshop and Newsstand, called the ban “silly” as well. “I think just as many kids are attracted to menthols as they are cloves,” he said. “I don’t think [the ban] will have much of an effect in terms of reducing the number of children who start to smoke.”

Patty McNally, store manager of Mayer’s Smokesshop and Newsstand, has observed changes in the buying habits of customers who prefer flavored cigarettes.

“Maybe 5 percent of my customers smoke clove cigarettes,” she said. “Those smokers have turned to other tobacco products, such as flavored cigars, now that they can no longer get ahold of what they want.”

“It’s a sort of substitution effect going on with this ban. Consumers will just buy other flavored tobacco products. Kids who want to smoke will still smoke,” Thorsen said.

October 28, 2009
By Lawrence Lan, Cornellsun

Beware of nicotine posing as candy and alcohol that tastes like punch.

That’s the combined heads-up given this week by the state Department of Health and a grass-roots parents group trying to quell underage drinking and tobacco use.

Smoking and other uses of tobacco products continue to decline, but nicotine is coming at children in breath mints, candy and toothpicks, said Amy Sands, program manager for the health department’s Tobacco Prevention and Control Program.

“The products are designed to make tobacco addiction more accessible as well as to promote the dual use of cigarettes and smokeless products, creating an even stronger addiction,” she said.

ParentsEmpowered.org kicked off the fourth year of its ongoing public awareness campaign against underage drinking Thursday with some good news.

Statewide averages for underage drinking are down across all grade levels for lifetime use, including use within a 30-day time frame and binge drinking in general, according to the Student Health and Risk Prevention survey.

The survey also found that teens cited parents’ disapproval of alcohol in general as the main reason they don’t drink.

The survey, conducted by Dan Jones & Associates, also found an average 4 percent reduction in drinking among teens over the past two years and across every high school grade. That means about:

11,260 fewer Utah children reporting ever trying alcohol in their lifetimes.

5,520 fewer have used alcohol in the past 30 days in the last two years.

2,600 fewer underage binge/heavy drinkers in Utah than two years ago.

While most Utah parents don’t drink, 65 percent of them generally agree their child could be exposed to alcohol.

“This is significant since many Utah parents often erroneously believe their children are insulated from the dangers of underage drinking because of their upbringing and their children don’t need parents’ help to stay alcohol-free,” said Parents Empowered spokeswoman Sherri Clark.

Parents should continue to be vigilant about tobacco products as well, said Sands, adding “there is no safe tobacco product,” and in any ingested form tobacco causes heart and other organ diseases, cancer and death.

Sands specifically outed Camel Snus, a smokeless — and with the added attraction of being spitless — tobacco in tea bag-type pouches touting refreshing flavors such as “frost,” now available in convenience stores.

With its “pleasure for whatever” slogan and concealable size, kids can easily take it into the classroom, she said. It also comes in a container shaped like a cell phone.

There’s something particularly insidious about hiding the most addictive element in tobacco in candy, said Dr. Ellie Brownstein, a University of Utah Health Care pediatrician.

Because the products have arrived so quickly, not much is know about them, she said. But so-called “dissolvables” have three times the nicotine, and contain cinnamaldehyde, a toxic insecticide, fungicide, corrosion inhibitor and severe skin irritant. Coumarin, a food additive the U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned in 1978 and was removed from cigarettes in 1997, also has been found in the product.

Losing 400,000 smokers a year, the tobacco industry is busy figuring out ways to promote products to have an ever-young market, Sands said, noting that adults trying to quit shouldn’t be fooled into thinking they can be used to help them get off nicotine.

“Ironically, the cake mix in your cupboard is more regulated than these new smokeless products, which are known to be addictive and destructive,” she said. “We, and our children, are to be human guinea pigs in the tobacco industry’s pursuit of profits. The only way to eliminate risk is to quit or never start.”

Oct. 25, 2009 Deseretnews

Parents: Beware of nicotine posing as candy and alcohol that tastes like punch.

That’s the combined heads-up given this week by the state Department of Health and a grass-roots parents group trying to quell underage drinking and tobacco use.

Smoking and other uses of tobacco products continue to decline, but nicotine is coming at children in breath mints, candy and toothpicks, said Amy Sands, program manager for the health department’s Tobacco Prevention and Control Program.

“The products are designed to make tobacco addiction more accessible as well as to promote the dual use of cigarettes and smokeless products, creating an even stronger addiction,” she said.

ParentsEmpowered.org kicked off the fourth year of its ongoing public awareness campaign against underage drinking Thursday with some good news.

Statewide averages for underage drinking are down across all grade levels for lifetime use, including use within a 30-day time frame and binge drinking in general, according to the Student Health and Risk Prevention survey.

The survey also found that teens cited parents’ disapproval of alcohol in general as the main reason they don’t drink.
Story continues below

The survey, conducted by Dan Jones & Associates, also found an average 4 percent reduction in drinking among teens over the past two years and across every high school grade. That means about:

11,260 fewer Utah children reporting ever trying alcohol in their lifetimes.

5,520 fewer having used alcohol in the past 30 days in the last two years.

2,600 fewer underage binge/heavy drinkers in Utah than two years ago.

While most Utah parents don’t drink, 65 percent of them generally agree their child could be exposed to alcohol.

“This is significant since many Utah parents often erroneously believe their children are insulated from the dangers of underage drinking because of their upbringing and their children don’t need parents’ help to stay alcohol free,” said ParentsEmpowered spokeswoman Sherri Clark.

Parents should continue to be vigilant about tobacco products as well, said Sands, adding “there is no safe tobacco product,” and in any ingested form causes heart and other organ diseases, cancer and death.

Sands specifically outed Camel Snus, a smokeless — and with the added attraction of being spitless — tobacco in tea bag-type pouches touting refreshing flavors such as “frost,” now available in convenience stores.
With its “pleasure for whatever” slogan and concealable size, kids can easily take it into the classroom, she said. It also comes in a container shaped like a cell phone.

There’s something particularly insidious about hiding the most addictive element in tobacco in candy, said Dr. Ellie Brownstein, a University of Utah Health Care pediatrician.

Because the products have arrived so quickly, not much is know about them, she said. But so-called “dissolvables” have three times the nicotine, and contain cinnamaldehyde, a toxic insecticide, fungicide, corrosion inhibitor, and severe skin irritant. Coumarin, a food additive the U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned in 1978 and was removed from cigarettes in 1997, also has been found in the product.

Losing 400,000 smokers a year, the tobacco industry is busy figuring out ways to promote products to have an ever-young market, Sands said, noting that adults trying to quit shouldn’t be fooled into thinking they can be used to help them get off nicotine.

“Ironically, the cake mix in your cupboard is more regulated than these new smokeless products, which are known to be addictive and destructive,” she said. “We, and our children, are to be human guinea pigs in the tobacco industry’s pursuit of profits. The only way to eliminate risk is to quit or never start.”

By James Thalman, Oct. 22, 2009 Deseretnews

It’s incontrovertible: Tobacco smoke, if used as directed over a prolonged period, kills people.

The National Coalition Against Contraband Tobacco tells us one reason why smoking is still so prevalent. In a recently study the group found that nearly 30% of the cigarettes being used near city high schools were contraband — that is, illegal and ultra-cheap. Contraband smokes cost about eight times less than the legal kind that you’d buy over the counter in a variety store.

Yet nobody seems to quite want to step out and name this problem for what it is: Cowardice, on the part of politicians, bureaucrats, aboriginal leaders and a provincial police force that will do anything, just about, to avoid enforcing the Criminal Code of Canada on native reserves.

The Internet is rife with advertisements for cheap, “Indian Smokes.” So are provincial highways, here and there. The people who sell these cigarettes are flouting the law. So are those who buy them. But it’s easier for government to look the other way.

Three months ago, provincial police in Haldimand briefly tried to shut down an illegal smoke shack along Highway 6.

The smoke shack had been set up on private property, not reserve property, against the landowner’s wishes. There was a complaint and police responded. They were met by 20 aboriginal protesters. The OPP backed off.

According to the smoke shack’s operator, Six Nations people never surrendered the land upon which Highway 6 was built, back in the 19th Century.

Therefore he was within his rights to use it as a venue for his smoke shack, he figured. The law and the current property owner’s rights be damned.

Most fair-minded Canadians deplore the continuing inequity that afflicts aboriginal people in this country.

What more of us need to say, more loudly (‘us’ in this context meaning all Canadians, whatever our race) is that the segregationist, racist reserve system is at the heart of the inequity.

The heart of apartheid in South Africa was two systems of law, with distinctions based on race. We have that in Canada.

Each time police deal with aboriginal lawbreakers differently than they would if the suspects were white, black, Asian or East European, they uphold Canadian apartheid.

Contraband smokes are a small piece of a much bigger problem, in other words. In their avoidance of the bigger problem the authorities are reduced to wringing their hands about the smaller one.

They should not.

Of course police and political leaders should avoid stoking violence. Peaceful means should always be exhausted, compromises found. But at the end of the day, the law must be enforced.

Surely there are ways of applying pressure to aboriginal leaders, perhaps financial, to persuade them to root out the illegality in their midst?

And perhaps there are means of law enforcement that do not involve the threat or possibility of lethal force? Ten OPP officers may have been outnumbered in Haldimand. Fifty big men, heavily armoured and carrying only batons and shields, might not have been.

The law exists for a reason. It should enforced, without fear or favour. Aboriginal people also have a right to peace, order and good government.

By Michael DenTandt, Owensoundsuntimes