House Votes to Let FDA Regulate Tobacco

[aliefj96]

check the story here.

[Mr. Ed]

I really enjoyed this part:

The small messages currently on cigarette packs warning of the negative health effects would be replaced by graphic images of the physical ravages often caused by cigarettes, such as lung tumors and mouth growths.

[rockyr]

Freakin' morons. Even the FDA doesn't want any part of this.

[StogieGuy]

Here's a little bit on the possible impact on cigars:

While the bill’s primary target seems to be cigarettes, it could have dire effects on cigar smokers. Besides being another step down the road to complete tobacco prohibition, FDA regulation may mean substantially limited advertising of cigars in magazines and also potentially on websites such as this one. If FDA mandates mean that cigar makers have to worry about nicotine (or other chemical) levels in cigars, it would stifle the creativity that has marked the cigar industry in recent years.

The bill also includes a prohibition on flavored cigarettes (although, oddly, it contains an exception for Menthol). While it is not clear that the flavored smoke ban would include cigars, if it does flavored cigars like Acid and Havana Honeys could be made illegal. Further, demands for “safer” tobacco products could mean a de facto prohibition for handmade cigars which, unlike cigarettes, cannot change their chemical makeup because they are entirely natural products.

Full story here.

Some cigar smokers seem to think this isn't a big deal because it seems to target cigarettes. That seems very short-sighted to me. Once you authorize a bureaucracy like the FDA to regulate tobacco, it is much easier for anti-tobacco activists to have them use the authority to go after all types of tobacco.

Also of note is that both Obama and McCain support the measure... so the veto threat will be gone in 6 months no matter the result of the election.

[Smoked]

Why can't they just leave people alone? It seems like they won't be happy until every aspect of our lives is decided for us.

[Mr. Ed]

I don't agre with this legislation, but the FDA prohibiting all tobacco is a worst case scenario at best.

[Lotstar]

[borndead1]

As long as people keep voting for the same 2 parties year after year, this kind of is only gonna get worse.

[boonedoggle]

I guess, eventually, I'll have to quit.

[orca99usa]

One of the few voices of sanity:

In floor discussion, John A. Boehner, the House minority leader, a smoker, called the legislation a “boneheaded idea.”

This is a bit ironic. The wife and I have been having serious discussions about moving to Canada, where I have relatives. This may be just one more push across the border.

[jadorm]

Canada already puts graphic pictures on their cigarette packs and tax is heavier on tobacco there if anything they are regulating faster then the U.S.

[Pat1075]

Gets me thinking about mexico, the only place where an american can be free. But seriously, all I want is for the government to leave me alone. They'll figure it out though once they force everybody to quit and there is suddenly a massive hole in their pocket book from where the tobacco tax money used to be.

[orca99usa]

We have also discussed Mexico, more specifically the Yucatan area. Who woulda thought...

[epyon26]

F'ing smonazi's, they just cant be happy, it's like I said in a previous thread "It's time to load up the AK and go to war". The f'ign nerve of Christopher Van Hollen Jr. (D-MD), I hope you get caught in on the street and catch a ass beating. FU Christopher Van Hollen Jr.

[zmancbr]

Originally Posted by Smoked

Why can't they just leave people alone? It seems like they won't be happy until every aspect of our lives is decided for us.

They all want us to live like they do in the movie "The Island". Once that is complete they can play god and we can just roam the halls in our boring houses and eat what they want, dress how they want us, and look like they want us to!

Well not while I am alive! If they ban cigars I will import them illegally! It is my right to have and smoke tobacco... it is what this country was built on... and it is what I enjoy and CHOOSE to do!!!