The Tobacco Ban Begins..

[Barnaby]

Looks like no more cloves... To be honest, I didn't think this would be a part of the ban at all... They even banned bidis!

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/health/FDA-Kiss...e-60502762.html

[destructo]

this was lay passed by big tobacco lobbying to increase their death grip on tobacco. nothing else. im just waiting for tobacco prohibition. it didnt work with alcohol it, it doesnt work with nht and i dont see it working with this.

[ih303]

Unbelievable. Everybody take a look at those statistics. I guarantee they will be higher AFTER the ban than BEFORE. That's how it works. History and common sense tell us, as long as there is a demand for a product, there will be someone there to provide it - legal or not. And banning a substance only adds to its intrigue and taboo, making it much more appealing to hipsters, scenesters and other would-be anti-establishment subcultures.

W/e. As long as they stick with banning cigs and stay away from my shisha, I'm fine.

[twoapplesplease]

This is just stupid so now when a teenager wants too try a cigg he'll go for a menthol the most highly addictive form of tobacco.Its as if they don't read there own studies.Or its exactly what they want, you be the judge. purly rebozunkouls. Edited September 25, 2009 by twoapplesplease

[destructo]

W/e. As long as they stick with banning cigs and stay away from my shisha, I'm fine.

First they came for the communists and i did not speak out.... you get the idea

[Stuie]

"We're the government, we know what's best for you. We will take away your Freedom of Choice for your own good."

[Zinite]

http://consumerist.com/5366360/fda-banned-...ot-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.

[RingsMaster]

we are slowly becoming communist and socialist. Obama is killing our country eventually we wont have a voice anymore, its sad

[MrMoodz]

Wow. I am glad I don't smoke cigarettes anymore. I'll start worrying when/if the government starts attacking hookah tobacco.

[Crys]

we are slowly becoming communist and socialist. Obama is killing our country eventually we wont have a voice anymore, its sad

LMAO at us becoming socialist with that bill


if anything it shows a tendency towards corporate control in our government not a government control of companies

[MrMoodz]

we are slowly becoming communist and socialist. Obama is killing our country eventually we wont have a voice anymore, its sad

Obama is killing our country?? That's a bit of a bold statement don't you think? The man has been in office for 7 months now. People need to hold off on the Obama bashing until he and his administration completes their term.

[destructo]

correct me if im wrong, but wasnt this bill introduced last summer?

[Scoop]

we are slowly becoming communist and socialist. Obama is killing our country eventually we wont have a voice anymore, its sad

your ignorance is showing...

did you even bother reading who co-wrote the bill, or when it was proposed and written?

[cptbjorn]

I see a lot of people saying "glad its not shisha getting the axe". IMO we can't be selective about which freedoms can be taken away otherwise we have no leg to stand on if (when) down the line the government decides to pick on something WE like to do. Here in Seattle all the hookah bars were shut down in 2006/2007 when more restrictive smoking laws were passed and what could we do? NOTHING. The majority of people had no interest in hookah bars and no interest in the interests of the minority so hookah bars went away.

Its kinda like a snake tightening its grip, every time the rat exhales the snake can go a little tighter. Anybody remember the last time they got a brand new freedom? I don't. They are just being taken away little by little "for our own good."

[Rani]

I said this before and I'll say it again.

A law intended for one use can still be used against you in other ways if they can show that it could reference the act, substance, etc. that they want to stop. Just because it was intended for cigarettes doesn't mean it won't encompass shisha at the discretion of the government agency now in charge of enforcing it. They got Al Capone on income tax evasion remember? Despite the fact that they couldn't prove a single illegal dime earned.

"Could happen" should be enough to cause action and outcry, but nope, everybody wants to sit around and say "it doesn't effect me" until they wake up one morning and "Oh shit! Surprise!" it does. I figure it's only a matter of time.

'Rani

EDIT: AND YES, I WILL BE THE ONE JUMPING UP AND DOWN AND YELLING "I TOLD YOU SO DAMN IT!"

[chinamon]

lol @ "the land of the free"

[mushrat]

keep it civil folks.

[Barnaby]

No law passed is truly for the good of the people. They are almost always loaded with an agenda by someone who has something to gain from it. This is just one of many bills that sounds like someone is doing something, but obviously Philip Morris gains tremendously, since they are shutting out any small players that produced an alternative flavored smoke. But that's still chump change against the real loser in this. Look at Camel. So long to a good chunk of their product portfolio, as they had the majority of flavored smokes out there, coming from a big company.

But its for the good of the children!

[FiveSpeedF150]

we are slowly becoming communist and socialist. Obama is killing our country eventually we wont have a voice anymore, its sad

Yeah, but this is more Big Tobacco than Obama. If national healthcare gets passed, we'll see how that goes

[hookah hippie]

My opinion is that we shouldn't be banning certain types of tobacco. Tobacco is a product for the use of adults and if some prefer cloves to regular cigs then let them smoke cloves. I know its a fallacious argument, but this seems like a slippery slope.

[bayne]

I don't get it. Can't I still order these online, internationally? I mean, it's not like customs would check the package unless they had suspicion to. Not much of a ban, if you ask me.

[Rani]

I don't get it. Can't I still order these online, internationally? I mean, it's not like customs would check the package unless they had suspicion to. Not much of a ban, if you ask me.

Possessing them isn't illegal. Manufacture and sale is in the US, but that's actually a very good point. The only cigarettes I ever smoke are the occasional Vanilla Dreams. I'm sure they've got them iin Mexico too and I'm just a couple hours from the border soooooooo....... I don't see why it would stop purchases internationally.

'Rani

[bayne]

Right, and they dont sell any good tobacco locally to me, so I order EVERYTHING online...I mean, if this doesnt stop international purchase, Im not effected by this at all.

[K1024]

now we get to sit and watch as our economy spirals down some more.

i've already seen at least 3 small tobacco shops that went out of business because of this, and the only ones able to hang around are those that are hookah/cigar/pipe orientated. but I am sure those will go soon too, because children like all of those things so much too.

I think we need to discuss what can be done, instead of griping about what has already been done.

suggestions?

[K1024]

seriously no one has thoughts on the issue? something that is this invasive to our rights cant continue, and certainly we need to be prepared for when they try to ban shisha.