NEW YORK—With names like "Twista Lime," "Midnight Berry," and "Warm Winter Toffee," the local American Cancer Society, backed by New York City Council members, is seeking a ban on candy-flavored cigarettes that they say target kids.
"This is an insidious product that blatantly targets kids," said Louise Veeter of the NYC chapter of the American Lung Association. "We owe it to the youth of New York City to protect them from deadly tobacco addiction, and removing these products from store shelves is the most effective way to do that."
The City Council held a hearing on the ban last Thursday.
Researchers at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York, recently released several surveys showing that 20 percent of smokers aged 17-19 smoked flavored cigarettes in the past 30 days, while only 6 percent of smokers over the age of 25 had.
"It's clear who buys these cigarettes: kids and first-timers," said City Council Health Committee chair Joel Rivera, who is sponsoring Intro 433, the bill behind the ban.
Chief medical officer of the cancer society, Donald Gemson, MD, said, "Make no mistake, these cigarettes are like training wheels for full-flavored cigarettes. Once you are hooked on nicotine, you're hooked—it doesn't matter if it's Midnight Berry or Marlboro."
The bill, which cigarette companies will likely see as an infringement on their freedoms, bans a wide range of cigarettes with "tastes and aromas relating to any fruit, chocolate, vanilla, honey, candy, mint, cocoa, dessert, alcoholic beverage."
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, an anti-smoking advocate, has not come out in favor of the ban. In the past, Bloomberg has raised cigarette taxes and banned smoking from restaurants and bars. Bloomberg, a billionaire, also donated $125 million of his own money to help fight smoking.
Bloomberg remains skeptical about the effectiveness of banning candy-flavored cigarettes, concerned that it might have the opposite effect and make smoking such cigarettes more fashionable.
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