Flavored Cigarettes Banned… Flavored Cigars Next?
A couple of weeks ago Patrick S at The Stogie Guys wrote a post titled Stogie News: Flavored Cigarette Ban Hits, Cigars Next? Short answer: Give ‘em time.
From another blog:
One of the problems with the new legislation is that the law does not clearly denote what constitutes a cigarette.
The most common distinction between a cigar and a cigarette is in the way each is wrapped, with cigars being rolled in tobacco leaves and cigarettes being cased in paper. Officials have been “deliberately vague” in letting the public know whether the ban would apply to flavored small cigars and cigarillos.
In a letter to tobacco manufacturers the agency noted that the ban applied to all “cigarette-like” products, regardless of how they are packaged and/or marketed.
Part of the confusion is due to the strict deadline that the agency had to meet. It only had 90 days to put the ban on flavored cigarettes into effect.
Catherine Lorraine, a lawyer in the agency’s tobacco center, said, “We will be looking at products on an individual basis to determine if it meets that aspect of the legislation.”
The post goes on to explain that the reason for the ambiguity is due to the short amount of time the poor FDA had to create these new bans. It had nothing to do with the FDA wanting to create regulations so broad that they could easily be expanded in the future. No way!
Just remember, the FDA could have just enforced laws already on the book that prohibit tobacco consumption by minors. Instead of doing the sensible thing, they just went ahead and banned flavored cigarettes. And, thanks to what I think was a purposefully broad regulation, flavored cigarillos are next. Just you watch.
Ontario Bans Flavored Cigarillos to “Protect” the Children
Ontario, Canada has now one-upped everyone! They are banning the sale of flavored cigarillos to, you guessed it, “protect” the children.
How great of them – in order to protect their citizens from themselves the Ontario government has curtailed their citizen’s freedoms. It wasn’t good enough to just outlaw the sale of flavored cigarillos to children they have to completely outlaw the sale of flavored cigarillos to everyone.
Here’s the story:
A private member's bill to outlaw candy-flavoured cigars from being sold in Ontario has received third and final reading in the legislature. The legislation, co-sponsored by the Liberals and New Democrats, was approved in near record time, especially considering that private member's bills rarely become law. Health Promotion Minister Margarett Best says selling peach- and cherry-flavoured cigarillos for $1 each in packaging designed to appeal to kids is troublesome. She says anything that prevents kids from lighting up in the first place is a good thing, which is why the government supported the legislation. The bill to outlaw flavoured cigarillos is not expected to be proclaimed into law for a few months. Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory says the bill is a deliberate sideshow designed by the government to detract attention from Ontario's faltering economy and job losses.
TheStar.com | Ontario | Ontario passes bill to outlaw cigarillos.
How thoughtful of these meddling fascists. Right now they are outlawing flavored cigarillos but what’s next? What’s next is anything that can be construed as even slightly unhealthy to those defenseless children.
Keep coming back for more updates about this ongoing assault on cigars.
