FDA Banned Flavored Cigs, But Not Menthols. Why?
Back in June we noted that the FDA was about to get a lot more say over the tobacco industry if the Senate approved a new bill. Well they did, and so yesterday the FDA flexed its new muscles by banning fruit, herb, spice, and candy flavorings from cigarettes. That's right: clove cigarettes were just banned by the FDA, which is bad news for gothy teens and great news for everyone else.
But one particular herb wasn't banned (emphasis ours):
…a cigarette or any of its component parts (including the tobacco, filter, or paper) shall not contain, as a constituent (including a smoke constituent) or additive, an artificial or natural flavor (other than tobacco or menthol) or an herb or spice, including strawberry, grape, orange, clove, cinnamon, pineapple, vanilla, coconut, licorice, cocoa, chocolate, cherry, or coffee, that is a characterizing flavor of the tobacco product or tobacco smoke.
Menthol cigarettes make up about 28% of the industry's profits, according to this New York Times article from last summer about the same legislation. Some menthol brands actually contain the highest amounts of nicotine of any cigarettes, making them potentially more addictive. And sadly, menthols have been deliberately marketed to African Americans for decades, in an attempt to create a thriving market for a specific group. It worked—75% of menthol cigarettes in the U.S. are smoked by African Americans.
So why wasn't menthol included on the banned additives list? Why was a subset of Americans neglected in this wide-reaching smackdown on tobacco products? Aside from the fact that banning menthols would cut between a quarter to a third of the profit out of the industry and waste decades of niche marketing, the Act that gave the FDA this power was co-authored by ginormous tobacco company Philip Morris (now called Altria), which had a clear incentive to keep menthols on the market and to shut out the flavored cigarettes that smaller competitors have been introducing. (Sort of like how the big toy companies pushed through the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act—CPSIA—last year that put large financial burdens on small toy companies.)
As Paul Smalera at Slate's "The Big Money" points out, this Philip Morris piece of legislative maneuvering puts the FDA in a bad place:
In other words, the United States will have two choices in the above scenario, both hairy: protect the FDA's independence by admitting it banned cloves but not menthols only to protect Philip Morris' [Altria's] market share or let the FDA manufacture an explanation, contrary to recent studies, by which menthol cigarettes, which are used to lure children to smoke, are just as safe as unflavored cigarettes.
"Up in smoke: FDA bans flavored cigarettes" [Consumer Reports]
RELATED
"Black Lawmakers Seek Restrictions on Menthol Cigarettes " [New York Times]
"Cool, Refreshing Legislation for Philip Morris" [The Big Money]
(Photo: fishercott911)
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Comments:
If we all agree that tobacco products are bad, why don't we just ban them altogether? It's rather hypocritical to demonize a product so much while simultaneously depending on its sales for much-needed tax revenue.
I say that as an on-again smoker who would love to see the public backlash such a ban would cause. Not to mention the resulting budget crisis that would follow the collapse of cigarette tax revenue.
H.R. 1256 is a crapshoot. We're banning a product that didn't have a very large market for adults and was smoked by very few teenagers (about .09% of teen smokers from the information I've seen). The entire bill was aimed at removing a competitor (albeit a small one) from the national market.
As far as I understand, the Congressional Black Caucus influenced the exemption for menthol and this entire bill was backed by cigarette companies as a "we're saving children from gateway cigarettes" when most of them smoke menthol or regular anyways.
As a side not to this, clove cigarettes are only illegal for distribution. You are still able to import them from outside sources for personal consumption.
@chapoec: Didn't you listen to the Secretary of Energy the other day? We're all spoiled teenagers who need to be told what to do by our intellectual betters. I have no doubt that flavored beers will eventually be targeted, but only because we're all too stupid to know how bad they are for us.
This has been discussed in the past a lot. Because menthols are mostly smoked by blacks, this topic is a very touchy race issue similar to the bar sign from last week (banning people wearing certain clothes). If the FDA banned menthols, there is a fear that they would be accused of "targeting blacks."
@Shivver: I'm a "never smoker" and believe that people who smoke are stupid for doing it. However, I think that if someone wants to smoke, they should be allowed to do so. If someone wants to smoke menthols or cherry flavored cigarettes, they should be allowed to. Although I like the banning of smoking in restaurants, I think the banning of smoking in bars is ridiculous (it's a part of bar atmosphere).
Tragic. The smell of cloves is one of my favorite memories of high school and college. Alas...
@Shivver
What tax revenue? Ever since my home state of Texas raised the taxes yet again *and* mandated the friggin "Fire Safe Cigarette" crap (Tastes like sh*t and can *Cause* fires, BTW), I've been buying out of the country.
It's hilarious that I can buy 6 cartons of smokes from the friggin UKRAINE (made in Switzerland) for a tiny bit more than I can buy 2 cartons in my home state... That's with shipping! And they taste like what I remember =P
@Shivver: We've all known for years that ciggys are bad. just as the last Editor of the bible, James I/VI who wrote 405 years ago "A custome lothsome to the eye, hatefull to the Nose, harmefull to the braine, dangerous to the Lungs, and in the blacke stinking fume thereof, neerest resembling the horrible Stigian smoke of the pit that is bottomelesse." (counterblaste to tobacco, 1604)
Smoking is a great example of people following marketing over common sense.
@Shivver: @sleze69: Part of the larger debate on cigarette marketing is that flavor additives mask the harshness of the smoke, which makes them easier to smoke and therefore more attractive "starter cigarettes"--in other words, ideal products to get non-smokers hooked. These are usually children at this point in tobacco's history, since there aren't a whole lot of adults who spontaneously decide to take up smoking these days.
Same with alcopops that disguise the alcohol flavor to make the drink taste more like a soft drink or fruit drink.
In both cases, I think the government interference--right or wrong--is aimed at preventing these industries from bringing in new customers at a young age. They're not really designed to tell adults what's good or bad for them.
I know! We should all boycott Philip Morris and all the other tobacco producers! Let's hit 'em where it hurts guys, right square in the profit margins.
(Of course, I am being sarcastic. Thanks to a certain addictive additive, Morris and the others have nothing to fear. There will be no backlash, people love their smokes far too much.)
@Kishi:
Very tragic. I LOVED cloves when I smoked. I also loved charging people a buck to bum them off me.
And the icing of this crummy cake is they have the NERVE to not touch menthol. Ugh.
That's messed up.
I really like the smell of secondhand clove smoke. It helps cut through the eau du subway piss that hangs over commuter options in the city.
I used to have a co-worker who smoked cloves, and honestly I didn't mind the smell on her as much as I did the normal smokers.
If we're going to let tobacco be legal, then it should be allowed to be whatever flavour sells. If we're going to ban it, then do so and deal with that feces-storm.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go have a chocolate lager.
Not too unrelated side note: As big tobacco gets pushed out of the US and other western countries, they aggressively market to 3rd world countries in Latin America Africa and Asia. Countries that have lax laws against smoking and how they are advertised.
you can still buy flavored tobacco for hookahs and what not...
@ktetch: As much as I agree with King James on smoking, I doubt he had scientific data to back up his "dangerous to the lungs" claims.
I think he just hated the habit and found it offensive.
@pecan 3.14159265: +1. Apparently smokers are the only ones that don't realize they stink.
You ever hop into a smoker's car?
Retards. I love clove cigarettes...on the rare occasion that I get any.
And I don't buy for a second that any "kids" were being enticed to cigarettes by the allure of smoking cloves. Candy flavors, maybe. Cloves? No.
So someone explain to me why I, a 30-something year old occasional smoker can buy a 1/2 pound cigar and smoke it, but not a clove cigarette?
One more giant EFF YOU to the mental midgets in charge of this crap.
For that matter, I firmly do not agree in them banning candy flavors either. If adults want to smoke grape-flavored cigs (I don't know why you would, but...), then let them.
Stop the asshattery already. Unban cigarettes, make pot legal, admit that teh War on Drugs is a total failure and let everyone get on with their lives.
@Shivver:
I'm an off/on smoker who only smokes menthol. If they weren't available, I wouldn't smoke at all. So, despite my feeling that people should be able to make personal choice, I am personally okay with a ban on menthols.
I know, I know. I could just choose not to smoke at all. But I am weak.
Sorry, smoking is bad (whether flavored or not.) But banning adults from consuming them is worse. This is moving in the wrong direction.
@pecan 3.14159265:
I don't smoke at work at all. The smell is awful and I'm not going to pay to dry clean my wardrobe that often. In fact, I only smoke when I'm drinking. And then, only outside. The smoker's car comment is dead-on. Yuck.
We smokers do realize that it stinks and makes us stink, by the way.
My god just ban all cigarettes already. This is bullshit and everyone knows it. CUT THE FOREPLAY AND MAKE THEM ILLEGAL. Smoking is awful and expensive and puts a huge burden on the families and non-smokers who have to deal with it's horrible results. SMOKING IS NOT A RIGHT, IT IS AN ADDICTION.
@Chris Walters: I disagree. If the state wants to prevent children from doing something, then explicitly ban children from doing that thing. If you can't enforce that ban, then so much the worse for the state. Banning a practice for all people because you don't want a subgroup to engage in that practice in my view is not morally acceptable.
The state has a duty to craft laws that are narrowly tailored to explicit and justifiable purposes. I do not want there to be any discretion in law enforcement. What is illegal should be a short and explicit list with no room to add things we discover later we don't like so much (at least not ex-post-facto). Criminalizing behaviour of groups you don't like very much and/or want to "improve" smacks of the overreaching and busybody state which prevents people from achieving the freedom that same state is supposed to be protecting.
@Shivver:
Yes, because total prohibition just works so well.
Also, how much you wanna bet smoke shops start selling flavorings to mix into loose tobacco?
...@YouDidWhatNow?:
Also, I'd like to point out that people who smoke menthols are...get ready for it...SMOKERS. You know...the kind of people who have a hard time quitting smoking.
If you stopped selling menthols, you're not suddenly going to have 28% of all your customers go "oh, well I guess I'll never smoke again then." No, in fact I doubt very much that even 1% of those smokers would not just buy regular tobacco-flavored cigarettes and get back to business as usual.
At least we will still be able to buy Camel Crush Cigarettes! Phew.
@gemetzel: Im not a smoker, and hate the smell of cigarette smoke, but cigarettes only hurt those who choose to smoke them, so Im fine with them being legal.
This is crap. Unless they can prove that flavored cigs are more harmful (to the point where theys hould be considered a controlled substance) then they should not be banned.
I dont even smoke and I think this is crap.
@YouDidWhatNow?: RE: Cigars. Just give them enough time and they will outlaw them. Or tax them out. SCHIP already introduced a tax of more than 1 dollar MORE per stick when it was introduced. My Macanudo Hampton Courts went from 6.50 a stick in NJ to 8.50 thanks to new state Vice Taxes.
If the FDA really cared about people's health, they would make ALL forms of tobacco illegal. Since they only care about their lobbyists profits, they never will.
@Shivver: Trust me on this one: you do not want the millions of smokers in this country to ALL have a nicotine shitfit all at once because of nicotine withdrawl. I was homicidal for a month and I still get cravings 4 years down the road. An entire nation nic fitting would be anarchy.
@huadpe: I should clarify that when I say "children" I really mean youths who try smoking for the first time. I don't have any info on when that average starting age is.
That's all I have to add.
@Chris Walters: I just want to pip in that as someone who started smoking at an early age I found Menthols to be absolutely disgusting. 20 years later I still do.
The real reason Menthol's weren't banned is the same reason no one will come out and just ban cigarettes entirely - they generate too much TAX revenue.
@Kishi: Same here. I have never smoked them (or any cigarette), but had lots of friends who did, and they smelled really nice. I actually did not mind the second-hand smoke when it smelled good. :)
@outlulz: There are so many things that are completely unhealthy that if you pursue this logic it'll be welcome to the United States of Sparta.
@Shivver: I second that.
They don't ban cigarettes because the taxes on them are too lucrative not to pass up.
In Massachusetts, cigarette taxes are $3.52 - $1.01 for the federal tax and $2.51 for the state, and that's before sales tax, etc. Tax accounts for anywhere between 45% of the price of name brand cigarettes to an eye popping 60%+ for the generics. That's higher than the IRS income tax ceiling of 35%.
I can guarantee that if the states actually advertised the actual tax rates, not just the tax values, you'd see people willing to go through nic fits just to avoid the tax.
@SinDex23: The states also line their pockets with these taxes, and not often do they use them for health purposes. Right into the general fund to pay for pork programs and give themselves raises.
@YouDidWhatNow?: I never understood why they saw flavored cigarettes like cloves as a gateway to smoking..generally they were the hardest and most expensive cigarettes to buy!
Hell, before the tax the hell out of tabacco days, IIRC I was paying twice as much for a pack of Djarim cloves as I would for a pack of Camels.
Aw, not cloves. There go my highschool goth days. The memories... That is not cool, man.
Does this mean flavored blunt wrappers they sell in convenience stores are also illegal? That's one thing I will be glad to see banned.
But they will never ban cigs because the taxes they bring in are much easier to collect, and everyone pays them.
I can't imagine that this will last. The backlash from hipster smokers who "don't smoke" but smoke cloves will feel like a bitch slap.
@Chris Walters: At some point there is an age of majority where the state has no right to ban an activity. This law bans these items to all persons, including all persons above the age at which we absolve any claim to control their actions as they regard their own bodies. It doesn't matter for this when people actually first start smoking. You should not prohibit adults from self-effecting actions for the sake of the children.
@Chris Walters: I started smoking Marlboro Reds when I was a teenager cause I'm not a fucking pussy.
I guess fancy goth kids need something to make them more fruity and independent by all wearing and smoking the same lame shit.
Yes, this will ban flavored cigars. But I'm not sure why you are so gleeful.
I used to smoke cherry cigarellos every now and then (and no, I didn't use them to roll a blunt). While I'm not going to argue that they are healthy, they certainly aren't any more unhealthy than a regular swisher sweet.
Of course the law has a mac truck sized hole.
Goodbye clove cigarettes, hello clove cigars.
Menthol smokers would have just switchted brands if Menthol was banned. Maybe a black market would have developed for Menthols.
@Dienacarfire: When I first read this law (I'm a clove smoker, and thus have been forced to quit) I looked into it a bit. Children/teenagers prefer plain old tobacco flavor, or menthol. The ban was total marketing bs. I'm interested to see how Indonesia's WTO complaint goes. I'll look for the study again and post a link about the youth preference.
@xtc46 - thinksmarter on twitter: Agreed. I've yet to hear of someone chain smoking fruity tobacco products or clove cigarettes. I had friends who smoked cloves, and it never bothered my lungs, and a pack would easily last a week. I did have one friend who wanted to quit but that was because of money, not health or addiction. Menthol? Now that's gross. Ick!
If they want to keep kids from smoking ANYTHING, then they need to enforce the laws that are already on the books, not deprive law abiding adults. I'm not a smoker, but I think adults have rights. Go after the gas station attendants. If anyone is selling smokes to the neighborhood kids, it tends to be them.
I wonder about flavored beer. Is my framboise lambic or pumpkin ale next? Home brewing is nice and all, but there's an undeniable ease of going to the store and picking up a tasty 6-pack. It's good to be an adult, but are these next?
I don't like the fact that the FDA banned these flavored cigarretes. What next ban different flavors of beer. What makes this even worse they banned the flavors to protect Philip Morris. Pathetic.