Obama Bans Yummy Cigarettes
The FDA now has the power to regulate what cigarettes taste like. For the children.
President Barack Obama cited his own long struggle to quit the cigarettes he got hooked on as a teenager as he signed the nation’s strongest-ever anti-smoking bill Monday and praised it for providing critically needed protections for kids. “The decades-long effort to protect our children from the harmful effects of tobacco has emerged victorious,” Obama said at a signing ceremony in the White House Rose Garden.
[…]
Before dozens of invited guests, including children from the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, the president signed legislation giving the Food and Drug Administration unprecedented authority to regulate tobacco. Obama accused the tobacco industry of targeting young people, exposing them to a “constant and insidious barrage of advertising where they live, where they learn and where they play. Most insidiously, they are offered products with flavorings that mask the taste of tobacco and make it even more tempting.” The new law bans candy and fruit flavors in tobacco products, and it limits advertising that could attract young people.
The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act also allows the FDA to lower the amount of addiction-causing nicotine in tobacco products and block misleading labels such “low tar” and “light.” Tobacco companies also will be required to cover their cartons with large graphic warnings. The law won’t let the FDA ban nicotine or tobacco outright.
Just think how far Obama might have gone had it not been for Joe Camel.
Do they still make those bubble gum cigarettes they had when I was a kid? Presumably, they’re not banned by this action, since they’re not made of tobacco. But they could theoretically encourage kids to smoke.
And couldn’t any advertising attract young people?
Photo by Flickr user Joan Thewlis under Creative Commons license.
Makes me want a smooth, refreshing Laramie.
We need room on the billboards for his image.
This is rather troubling, and in my opinion goes beyond the mandate of the FDA. This rule doesn’t keep people safe, it just makes a legal product less attractive to a certain demographic. Are they going to outlaw wine coolers next?
This won’t affect cigars though.
Right?
Right?
The hand is writing on the wall, Michael. No more chocolate or cherry-flavored cigars.
There are those who will say my comments, following, are overwrought. I say those people are naive. The strategy of incrementalism is the stock in trade of the do-gooder control-your-life crowd.
Revised: circa 2011
“Before dozens of invited guests, including children from the Campaign for Fat and Sugar Free Kids, the president signed legislation giving the Food and Drug Administration unprecedented authority to regulate food. Obama accused the food industry of targeting young people, exposing them to a “constant and insidious barrage of advertising where they live, where they learn and where they play. Most insidiously, they are offered products with flavorings like ketchup, salt, chocolate, Cinnamon, and sugar that mask the taste of meats, and raw corn, wheat or rice and make it even more tempting.†The new law bans spices in meat, or sweet and fruit flavors in cereal products, and it limits advertising that could attract young people.
(Silly Rabbit, TRIX aren’t for kids. And you, Cap’n Crunch! Into the stockade with you!!…..Now, who’s cookoo for Coco Puffs…I dare ya!)
The Family Obesity Prevention and Fat Control Act also allows the FDA to lower the amount of addiction-causing fat and sugar in food products and block misleading labels such as “low fat†and “light.†Food companies also will be required to cover their cartons with large graphic warnings. (DON’T EAT THIS OR YOU WILL BECOME FAT AND DIE A SLOW, HORRIBLE DEATH!! WORSE, YOU COULD BECOME UNPOPULAR AT SCHOOL!!!!) The law won’t let the FDA ban fat or sugar outright. (Yeah……sure.)
I’m sure those unspiced hot dogs, burgers and McNuggets will be just awesome and have the kids clamoring for that fat free Happy Meal. “I’m Lovin’ It…….like cardboard !!”
And those unsweetened, unsalted rolled oats, with Knudsen Pure Pomegranate juice in the morning? The kiddies just won’t be able to sleep thinking about tomorrow’s breakfast.
Don’t laugh. Once tobacco is done with, the howitzers will turn.
Yup we never learn from History……
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-tobacco_movement_in_Nazi_Germany
Since a major case of the absurd has infested this comments thread, a poem is in order…
You poor dears, how will you cope with the cruelty being lashed on you by this government! Oh the humanity…
Drew, dude, it’s later than you think. The FDA has ordered General Mills to stop advertising that Cheerios reduces cholesterol else it will classify the cereal as a drug. Rumor is that the FDA is in the pocket of Big Pharma, which spends bazillions of dollars developing drugs that reduce cholesterol, and BP is pissed to think that all it had to do was roll some oats or some such and put the stuff in pill form.
When he said “common sense regulation” I thought Obama meant “common sense regulation.” I didn’t know he meant regulating one of the most regulated products in this country even more.
If it hasn’t already, this should put to bed any ideas that the drug laws in this country will be reformed anytime soon.
Or maybe…maybe they will decriminalize marijuana, but just ban calling it “Blueberry Sunrise” because…you know, kids might want it then.