Candy Flavored Tobacco Products No Longer A Temptation To Children

Main Category: Smoking / Quit Smoking
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 22 Sep 2009 - 4:00 PDT

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Statement of Charles D. Connor, American Lung Association President and CEO:

Starting tomorrow, the use of candy and fruit flavors in cigarettes, a tactic employed by tobacco companies to get children hooked on smoking, is finally prohibited. Candy and fruit flavored cigarettes will no longer be manufactured or sold. This move will save countless lives by outlawing strawberry, lime, honey or pina colada flavored cigarettes that the tobacco industry has used to lure new, young smokers.

This action results from the passage of the Family Smoking and Prevention Act that grants the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulatory control over tobacco products. This historic legislation, which finally was signed into law earlier this summer, included the provision to eliminate candy flavored cigarettes from the market.

Today, we celebrate an important victory in our fight against the tobacco caused illnesses, while still recognizing youth smoking is a serious problem in the United States. Every day, 3,600 children under the age of 18 try their first cigarette. About 1,100 of them will become regular, daily smokers. Tobacco companies realized a long time ago that in order to replace the 394,000 customers that die every year as the result of tobacco-related diseases, they need to hook new, young customers into a lifetime of addiction.

It is vital that the FDA strictly enforce the ban on the use of candy and fruit flavors in cigarettes. Some tobacco companies might claim that their products are exempt from the ban. It is critical that the FDA take all the necessary steps to ensure that all cigarettes with a characterizing flavor covered by the law are removed from the shelves immediately.

The Lung Association also urges the FDA to continue to move forward with aggressive implementation of the law.

Source
American Lung Association

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