One Problem - FDA Doesn’t Regulate Cigar Industry...
….Yet
By Dell Hill
Don’t these people have really important economic “stuff” to tend to?
AP
Shown here is a package of White Owl Grape flavored cigars.
Swisher Sweets could be the next target of federal tobacco regulation.
A group of U.S. senators is urging the Food and Drug Administration to ban flavored cigars, claiming the "candy-like flavorings" increasingly are luring teens into the smoking habit -- even as they turn away from cigarettes.
"Cigars contain the same toxic and cancer-causing chemicals contained in cigarettes, and public health experts have warned that cigars are not safe alternatives to cigarettes," the senators wrote in a letter to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg.
The letter comes as the FDA exerts newly granted authority to regulate tobacco products. The FDA in 2009 officially banned flavored cigarettes. Despite some confusion at the time, the regulation did not end up applying to many flavored cigars and cigarillos like Swisher Sweets or Black & Milds, which are among the most popular cigar products in the country.
The FDA has shown an interest in regulating cigars, and the senators on Thursday urged the agency to close what they described as the "regulatory loopholes" allowing the flavored brands to stay on the shelves.
"Cigars with candy-like flavorings such as strawberry, watermelon, vanilla and chocolate attract kids to smoking and help hook them on this addictive habit," they wrote. The letter was signed by Sens. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J.; Dick Durbin, D-Ill.; Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio; Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.; and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.
Dell’s Bottom Line: Sooooo, if you’re going to go so far as to ban flavored cigars, why not ban ALL cigars? You’re saying cigar smoking is “deadly”, but just want to get your foot in the door by banning flavored cigars?
I see.
Don’t you @$$ holes have anything better to do???
No comments:
Post a Comment