So as of September 22, 2009, flavored cigarettes are illegal in the U.S.. Obviously cigarettes in any form aren’t healthy – not for kids or adults, however, what I’m not on board with is the hypocritical issues surrounding this, the lazy way in which the government is looking at health issues, and the backward logic that went into the ban.

In June, President Barack Obama signed the law to allow the FDA to regulate the tobacco industry. Its authority includes the ability to ban certain products like cloves and fruit flavored cigarettes, i.e.  products that they decide are being marketed to kids.

Marijke, a fellow Blisstree blogger writes, “It’s not the 40-year-old who has been smoking for over 20 years who will buy these “cigarettes,” but someone who is jut beginning and doesn’t want that tobacco taste, right?  These flavors added to cigarettes and other tobacco products make them more appealing to teens. According to statistics, 17-year-old smokers are three times as likely to use flavored cigarettes as smokers over the age of 25.”

Here’s the deal.

When I was in high school I knew plenty of smoking kids. Guess what they were smoking? Not cloves, not fruity cigarettes, but actual tobacco flavored cigarettes; Camels and other mainstream cigarettes and a lot were smoking menthol cigarettes.

Do I see actors smoking cloves in movies? Do I see ads for cloves and other fruit cigs in magazines or on TV or billboards? Nope. You know what I have seen throughout my life though?  I have had a certain cartoon camel branded into my brain over and over again – a CARTOON camel. I have seen real cigs smoked in movie after movie. As a kid I didn’t see adults smoking cloves, but I did see them smoking real cigarettes, and kids are more likely to smoke the same brand of cigarettes that their parents or other significant adults in their lives smoke.

In fact, according to a recent National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA) (by the gov), cloves and fruit flavored cigs didn’t even make the list. Marlboro was the brand used most often by past month cigarette smokers (including the age group of 12-17 year olds), followed by Newport, Camel, Basic, and Doral.

Additionally while U.S. sold clove cigarettes are a $140 million market, regular cigarettes and menthol cigarettes outsell cloves and fruit flavored cigarettes by huge leaps and bounds. But according to one report, no one is all that surprised that the “FDA’s first venture into tobacco regulation does not cover menthol cigarettes, because they’re far bigger sellers than candy versions. Banning them first, would result in a “pretty major revolt from industry.” On its website, Philip Morris USA says it supports banning cigarette flavor varieties “other than tobacco and menthol.” Yeah, it would suck if there was an industry revolt. The government doesn’t want to make the tobacco companies too mad, not when it’s feeding the economy like it is.

Are Obama’s and the FDA’s efforts being focused on the wrong area?:

As noted above, real cigarettes are massively targeted at youth. Instead of looking at this though the FDA is looking at a minor piece of the health puzzle (cloves and fruit cigs), so minor that it’s laughable. Should cloves and other fruity cigarettes be banned. Sure, why not, but is this actually the biggest health issue facing our kids? Quite possibly no.

The 2004 National Youth Tobacco Survey, found that “Among high school students, cloves accounted for only 2.3 percent of tobacco use, with regular cigarettes accounting for 22.3 percent.”

If the FDA, Obama, and whoever else wants to make a real difference, they might want to consider a ban or major tax on any number of products that actually and successfully target youth and contribute to poor health such as real cigarettes, McDonald’s, soda pop, Kool-Aid, toxic cleaners, practically recess free schools, terrible fatty school lunches, and so on. Obesity related deaths are quickly catching up to smoking deaths in the U.S. At schools, at the stores, everywhere you go you don’t see kids smoking cloves but you do see plenty of overweight little kids. 1 in 3 small children are overweight or obese.

Number of kids smoking cloves: 2.3%

Number of kids overweight or obese: 11-18%

Um…

Most articles I’m reading are all “Yay!” about this new ban on cloves and fruit cigarettes, but when it gets right down to it, this law targets an extremely small issue and shows how lackadaisical our priorities can be. It’s not a very brave point to make when you ban something that’s less troublesome than fast food ads, fat laden school lunches, menthol or real cigarettes it’s just easier is all. It’s not the most significant point the government could make. On this choice they took an easy out and frankly it feels pretty damn lazy to me.

Hey, but on the upside, mainstream cigarette companies will be raking in even more money now! Awesome right! Go FDA.

What do you think?

[image via stock.xchng]

Post from: Blisstree

The lazy new ban on clove cigarettes