Flavored Cigarettes Banned to Protect Kids

The FDA banned flavored cigarettes on Tuesday. The ban is an effect of a new law, which gives FDA authority to regulate tobacco. Media sources have different takes on the value of the ban. We take a look at perspectives from KKCO, ABC 7, FOX news, KPBS, NBC Dallas-Forth Worth, The New York Times and The Minnesota Daily.

KKCO turns to health officials, who say the ban is significant, especially for children and teens.

“From colada to toffee, cherry to vanilla, FDA officials say the flavors were used by tobacco companies to appeal to children and teens, and get them to start smoking. But now local health officials agree that the ban is a big step towards keeping the kids from picking up the habit.”
“90% of all the current tobacco users started using tobacco before the age of 18. So bans like this help us change that statistic.”

But a smoker tells ABC 7 that despite the ban, people will still buy what they want to smoke.

“If they’re trying to keep it out of kids hands, it’s going to be like everything else. They drink. And they have to be 21 to buy it where they get it from. So if they want it, they’ll get it.”

FOX News looks at how the ban will hurt small smoke shops.

“He says with more taxes and new regulations, he hopes his business won’t go up in smoke.”

KPBS News reports the ban may be ineffective. One business is already working around it.

“Kretek International is the nation's largest importer of clove cigarettes. To circumvent the ban on flavored cigarettes, the company plans to sell small clove-scented cigars. Cigars are not included in the new FDA ban.”

A writer for NBC Dallas-Forth Worth says the ban has one other crucial loophole.

“The ban doesn't include menthol, which is by far the most popular cigarette flavor, or other flavored tobacco products.”

A former federal health secretary, Joseph A. Califano Jr., tells the New York Times that he and six other former secretaries are protesting menthol’s special treatment.

“He said the legislation was ‘clearly putting black children in the back of the bus.’ He was referring to menthol cigarettes as being the choice of three out of four black smokers and being frequently preferred by young smokers.”

Philip Morris is twisting the ban for its own financial advantage, says a writer for The Minnesota Daily.

“The ban will likely increase revenues, and not just for the government. Tobacco monolith Philip Morris, the only tobacco corporation to support granting the FDA regulatory authority…(is) using the regulations to consolidate its market share and crowd out burgeoning competition... In the name of children, Philip Morris has successfully made the FDA a vessel of its own monopolistic interests.”