http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/23/health/policy/23fda.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper
Flavors Banned From Cigarettes to Deter Youths
By GARDINER HARRISWASHINGTON — Federal health officials banned the sale of flavored Wcigarettes on Tuesday in the first major crackdown since the Food and Drug Administration was given the authority to regulate tobacco.
The ban is intended to end the sale of tobacco products with chocolate, vanilla, clove and other flavorings that lure children and teenagers into smoking. The agency will study regulating menthol products and hinted that it might soon take action against the far larger market of flavored small cigars and cigarillos.
“These flavored cigarettes are a gateway for many children and young adults to become regular smokers,” Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg, commissioner of food and drugs, said in announcing the ban.
In 2004, 17-year-old smokers were more than three times as likely as those over the age of 25 to smoke flavored cigarettes, and they viewed flavored cigarettes as safer. Among the more famous flavored cigarette introductions was that of Camel Exotic Blends by R. J. Reynolds, which had flavors like Twista Lime, Kauai Kolada and Warm Winter Toffee.
“Banning the marketing and use of strawberry, chocolate and other flavored cigarettes will help slow the rate of addiction among young smokers, preventing disease and saving millions in health care costs down the line,” said Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa.
Every day, 3,600 children and teenagers start smoking and 1,100 become daily smokers, studies show.
The ban comes three months after President Obama signed legislation giving the F.D.A. the authority to regulate tobacco products, which had $96 billion in sales in 2008, with $87 billion in cigarette sales; $4 billion in cigar, small cigar and cigarillo sales; and $4.6 billion in chewing tobacco, snuff and loose tobacco sales. Recently, domestic manufacturers, anticipating a ban, largely halted production of flavored cigarettes, less than 1 percent of the market, but imports have been widely available.
Under the new law, the agency has broad authority to regulate the marketing and manufacture of tobacco products but cannot ban regular cigarettes, cigars or chewing tobacco. By January, manufacturers must submit information to the agency about ingredients and additives, and by July the industry will be barred from using terms like “light,” “low” and “mild” on products.
The legislation left some details vague. For instance, the agency is required to ban flavored cigarettes, but the law did not clearly define what constituted a cigarette.
The distinction between cigarettes and cigars has long revolved around the wrapping. Cigarettes are made of tobacco wrapped in paper, and cigars are made of tobacco wrapped in tobacco or paper constituted from tobacco. The tobacco inside the products also generally differs. A cigarillo is larger than a small cigar but smaller than a premium hand-rolled cigar.
At a news conference on Tuesday, agency officials were deliberately vague when asked whether the ban would apply to the growing market of flavored small cigars like Swisher Sweets or cigarillos like Black & Mild, which can have flavors like apple and chocolate.
F.D.A. agents visited a tobacco store in Mobile, Ala., on Saturday and told the owner that the flavoring ban included cigarillos like Black & Mild, according to Norman Sharp, president of the Cigar Association of America.
Another cigar store owner told Mr. Sharp that an agency representative called last week to tell her to remove every flavored tobacco product from her shelves that “looked like a cigarette” but could not define what that meant, Mr. Sharp said.
In a letter to manufacturers, the agency said the ban applied to all cigarette-like tobacco products even if they “are labeled as cigars or as some other product.” And in another document to manufacturers, the agency wrote that it was “examining options for regulating both menthol cigarettes and flavored tobacco products other than cigarettes.”
Matthew L. Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, hailed Tuesday’s announcement and said it clearly applied to flavored small cigars that are virtually identical to cigarettes.
“The F.D.A. demonstrated that they’re serious about enforcing the ban on flavored cigarettes and serious about preventing tobacco companies from circumventing that ban with other tobacco products that appeal to children,” Mr. Myers said.
Mr. Sharp also praised the announcement and said the agency clearly did not intend the ban to apply to small cigars and cigarillos.
“We feel this should go a long way to clearing up any confusion in the marketplace,” he said.
David Howard, a spokesman for R. J. Reynolds, said the confusion benefited no one.
“It’s hard to understand,” he said. “We need clear and timely guidance so all of us can work together so that we can understand what we need to be doing.”
An R. J. Reynolds subsidiary sells small cigars, which look like brown cigarettes, but Mr. Howard said no one would confuse small cigars with cigarettes.
“They are not cigarettes,” he said.
The confusion surrounding the ban results in part from the tight timelines that Congress inserted into the tobacco legislation. Dr. Lawrence Deyton, director of the F.D.A. tobacco center, has been on the job only a week and has barely begun hiring staff members. But the ban on flavored cigarettes had to go into effect 90 days after the legislation was signed, and so it did.
While cigarette sales are declining about 4 percent annually, those of cigars and cigarillos have been steadily rising, in part because taxes and regulations on cigars are less onerous than those on cigarettes.
Dr. Deyton was asked several times on a conference call with reporters if the ban applied to any small cigars or cigarillos. “According to the law, if something is wrapped in a tobacco leaf, that would not be considered ... ” he said and then stopped and added, “Hold on just a second.”
After a delay, Catherine Lorraine, a lawyer in the agency’s tobacco center, got on the call and said that if consumers believe a product is a cigarette, then the law defines it as one no matter how it is wrapped or labeled.
“We will be looking at products on an individual basis to determine if it meets that aspect of the legislation,” Ms. Lorraine said.
Brian M. Mulholland, general manager of Georgetown Tobacco in Washington, said his store got rid of its clove cigarettes two weeks ago. Flavored cigarettes made up less than 5 percent of the store’s sales, and some of those who smoked them have switched to cigars, he said.
“It’s been an opportunity to educate the consumer on switching,” Mr. Mulholland said. “They’re making the transition.”**********
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