No more flavored cigs

[Kratos]

Anyone selling cigarettes flavored with cloves, fruit – anything but menthol – is a criminal under a ban that marks the first assault in a new war on tobacco.

In this photo made Aug. 18, flavored cigarettes are on display at a tobacco store in Richmond, Va....
In this photo made Aug. 18, flavored cigarettes are on display at a tobacco store in Richmond, Va. The new filtered cigars _ close to the size of a cigarette and flavored with clove, vanilla and cherry _ allow Kretek International Inc., which imports Djarum-brand tobacco products from Indonesia, to avoid new federal laws banning flavored cigarettes other than menthol.
(Steve Helber/AP Photo)The law, enacted this summer and kicking in today, directs the FDA to crack down on candy and fruit-flavored cigarettes that public health officials say turn children into life-long nicotine addicts.

"These flavored cigarettes are a gateway for many children and young adults to become regular smokers," FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg told reporters.

The FDA has sent a letter to tobacco companies warning the agency will take action against those who continue to make, distribute or sell flavored cigarettes in violation of the law. Border agents have been instructed to block imports of flavored cigarettes.

Related
Stop-Smoking Meds Get Suicide WarningFido and Fluffy Want You to Butt OutObama Vows to Overhaul Food SafetyFederal officials and tobacco control advocates could not say exactly how many people use these products. But Dr. Lawrence Deyton, head of the FDA's new Center for Tobacco Products, said they are favored by teens.

"Studies show that 17-year-old smokers are three times as likely to use flavored cigarettes as smokers over the age of 25," Deyton said.

Tobacco companies sweeten their cigarettes because "flavors make cigarettes and other tobacco products more appealing to youth," he added.

Deyton read what he called "a historic memo" from one tobacco manufacturer, outlining plans to directly target children by making "a cigarette that's obviously youth-oriented" and by featuring "flavor which would be candy-like but give the satisfaction of a cigarette."

Calling tobacco addiction a "public health catastrophe," one of the Obama administration's top officials, Assistant Secretary for Health Howard Koh, put the cigarette industry on notice that this is just the beginning of a "new chapter in public health efforts at tobacco control."

The law will require tobacco companies to register with the FDA. And Deyton said the agency will soon require those cigarette makers to turn over information about the "constituent components of tobacco products." The FDA will work with CDC scientists to investigate the safety of those ingredients.

As for flavorings, the law specifically exempted the most popular one – menthol. But the agency is studying ways to close that loophole – and to regulate flavorings in cigars, chewing tobacco and snuff.
It's all part of an unprecedented federal effort to reduce what Koh said is a public health threat that causes 438,000 deaths – one of every five deaths - each year. Adults who smoke, he said, die an average of 14 years earlier than non-smokers

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/QuitToL...8640262&page=2

[Kratos]

Maybe a few months old, but I didn't know flavored cigarettes were off the market.

Menthol is still legal...because black people wouldn't vote for Obama in the next election if he took them off the market.

[*El Diablo*]

Maybe a few months old, but I didn't know flavored cigarettes were off the market.

Menthol is still legal...because black people wouldn't vote for Obama in the next election if he took them off the market.

LOL...Racist!

[elpropiotorvic]

If there is something bad as hell and good for nothing is cigarrettes in my op they should be banned completely and be sanctioned like AAS

[Mooseman33]

i love smoking....

the govt. needs the tobacco industry revenue.

so i do my part for america by smoking my pack a day..

[energizer bunny]

If there is something bad as hell and good for nothing is cigarrettes in my op they should be banned completely and be sanctioned like AAS

well i dont think smoking should be banned.....yes banned in public places...but banning completely should never happen...its upto the individual person if he or she wants to smoke...

[elpropiotorvic]

Still think it should be banned... Global warming ... Health issues...the tobacco industry might be a huge revenue and source of employment but we got to start thinking about quality of life ... Rec smoking is different( not tobbCco) tobbaco companies are very very very powerfull.. More than we think or imagine... They use ilegal practices of marketing to get into new markets ... They produce nothing good ... And destroy many lifes and families not only those of smokers but those who oppose them. As well

[elpropiotorvic]

At the same time you have a valid point what is this land going to become if govt messes up with the privacy of your own home ... I guess yes from public places and not from private use But ideally I would love to see this world without cigarrettes .. But yes in private in the soberinity ( not sure if this is correct English ) of ur home u are entitled to use. It

[ottomaddox]

I can still get any Djarum products in California, I go by 7-Eleven all the time and they carry them. I don't smoke but I still smell them in public, here in town. Yuk.....

Maybe a few months old, but I didn't know flavored cigarettes were off the market.

Menthol is still legal...because black people wouldn't vote for Obama in the next election if he took them off the market.

[warchild]

ban smoking

[spywizard]

once again lip service.

want to keep people alive?? save lives?? ban advil.. more people die from abusing that every year than anyone would imagine..

[Kratos]

LOL...Racist!

It's not racist if it's true.
Black smokers make up 60 percent to 70 percent of the menthol cigarette consumers, and are 30 percent more likely to die of smoking-related illnesses than whites.

Fifty-five percent of blacks used one of three menthol brands -- Newport, Kool and Salem -- according to a 1998 Surgeon General's report

[Kratos]

I'm not a smoker, but c'mon. You really think it's going to stop kids from smoking if you take flavored cigs off the market. It's up to parents to keep their kids from wanting to smoke. They didn't have flavored cigs 30 years ago, does that mean young people didn't smoke?

If smoking in public is banned, what's your problem with it?
Being fat kills people pretty good too, but do you want all the fast food joints forced to close up shop? I enjoy a fat burger or a donut once in awhile or a coke, which they plan on taxing.

Gvmt is a growth industry and every year they tighten the screws down a little tighter on what you are able to do.

[energizer bunny]

Still think it should be banned... Global warming ... Health issues...the tobacco industry might be a huge revenue and source of employment but we got to start thinking about quality of life ... Rec smoking is different( not tobbCco) tobbaco companies are very very very powerfull.. More than we think or imagine... They use ilegal practices of marketing to get into new markets ... They produce nothing good ... And destroy many lifes and families not only those of smokers but those who oppose them. As well

Fuk global warming....

[TITANIUM]

WTF????

I smoke about 5 cigars a year.

Tampa sweets.

I guess I'm on the shit list.

Best

T