NY vs. Flavored Cigarettes

[CIGma_Chi]

This is from the NY Daily News.

Not sure what the ramifications could be ... but noteworthy, I think.

***

State may ban flavored smokes

BY JOE MAHONEY
DAILY NEWS ALBANY BUREAU CHIEF

New York would be the first state in the nation to snuff out the sale of flavored cigarettes, if a proposed law passes.

"Big Tobacco's newest marketing ploy, the sale of flavored cigarettes, is another blatant attempt to lure children to ... the life-long addictive habit of smoking," said Assemblyman Pete Grannis (D-Manhattan).

The measure touted by Grannis and state Sen. Charles Fuschillo (R-Nassau) would ban the sale of all cigarettes with flavors except for menthol.

The two were the main authors of a controversial 2003 law that bans smoking in bars and restaurants across the state.

Flavored cigarettes already on the shelves in New York include products that sound like they might be on an ice cream parlor menu: Twista Lime, Caribbean Chill, Winter Mocha Mint and Midnight Berry.

Critics of the flavored smokes complain they also are being marketed to African-Americans, with many ads for the cigarettes featuring black models.

The proposed legislation won the quick approval of Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who said he was "appalled" tobacco companies are producing flavored cigarettes that are "more attractive to children than to adults."

Anti-smoking activists said they're worried the marketing effort behind flavored cigarettes will make a bad situation worse, because more than 51,000 kids in New York begin smoking each year.

A lobbyist for one tobacco firm said privately he thought the measure had a "reasonable chance" of being enacted.

Gov. Pataki had no immediate position on the measure, though an aide said, "Clearly, no governor has done more to reduce teenage smoking than Gov. Pataki."

[FunkyPorcini]

[SIZE=4]America - Land of the free[/SIZE] [SIZE=1]as long as you don't want to smoke or do anything the current governing trend doesn't want you to[/SIZE] [SIZE=4]home of the brave[/SIZE] [SIZE=1]but not brave enough to stand up for freedoms and tell the government that it should be the establishment owner's choice to allow or ban smoking in the place they pay for/own[/SIZE].

Freedom means I can kill myself if I so choose.
It also means that I do not have to pay for your medical bills through taxes if you chose to smoke and incurred health problems because of it.