Campaign Seeks Ban On Candy Flavored Tobacco

Former resident Valencia Morris of the Miami-Dade County Health Department is on a mission to have all candy flavored buy cigarettes products banned from South Miami.

Morris and representatives from the South Miami Alliance for Youth recently spoke at city hall in hopes the mayor and city commissioners might pass a resolution in support of their efforts to ban sales of candy flavored buy cigarette online that appear to specifically target young people.

Accompanied by youngsters Jakiese Abside, age 13, and Niesha Adderley, 14, wearing their SWAT (Students Working Against Tobacco) t-shirts, Morris also showcased a large poster board display creatively designed to highlight the colorful candy-like enticing products purportedly aimed at adolescent buyers.

“The colorful wrapping in the packages, the pattern designs that mimic the look of an X-Box game, these are all strategically marketed to appeal to young people,” says Morris.

According to the Department of Health, 17 year old smokers are three times as likely to use flavored discount cigarettes as smokers over the age of 25. Products like grape flavored cigars, berry flavored spit tobacco and new dissolvable tobacco laden stimulants like Camel Sticks, Strips, and Orbs are all targets of the campaign.

The call to action for the city commission resolution is part of an ongoing education initiative of the Florida Department of Health. So far 19 counties in the state have adopted the resolution and 24 cities, including Miami Beach.

The Miami Beach resolution language stipulates the types of flavored tobacco that are susceptible to youth as “loose tobacco, snuff flour, plug and twist tobacco, fine cuts, chewing tobacco, snus, shisha tobacco, smoking cigarettes or snuff tobacco products and blunt wraps prepared in such a manner with the purpose of chewing, inhaling, smoking cigarettes or ingesting in any manner in which the product or any of its component parts contain, as a constituent or additive, an artificial or natural flavor or an herb or spice, including but not limited to strawberry, grape, orange, clove, cinnamon, pineapple, vanilla, coconut, licorice, cocoa, chocolate, cherry, coffee, or alcohol flavors, that is a characterizing flavor of the tobacco product or tobacco smoke.”

New York City has successfully banned the sale of all flavored tobacco products and Wisconsin and Illinois have instituted a state-wide ban.

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Candy Flavored Tobacco

The emergence of new candy-flavored buy cigarette online products has parents, teachers, health advocates, physicians and communities rightly concerned. Cigarillos, cigars and a host of smokeless cheap cigarette online products - chew, snuff, snus, dissolvable tobacco - now come in such tantalizing flavors as pineapple, sour apple and chocolate. They are presented in bright and playful packaging and readily available at convenience stores throughout the state, much like Halloween candy.

These products, widely considered to be a gateway to a lifetime of tobacco addiction, have been proven to entice young audiences. In fact, use of all flavored tobacco products among youth is trending upward. In Florida, one in six kids between the ages of 11 and 17 had ever tried flavored tobacco, and youth erroneously believe these products to be less harmful than their non-flavored counterparts.

“It’s the ultimate guise,” remarked Kim Berfield, Deputy Secretary of the Florida Department of Health.“Youth are drawn in to the pageantry of these novel products and fall prey to the tobacco industry’s sweet deception.”

Youth have always been an essential target for the tobacco industry. Numerous internal tobacco industry documents reveal that the companies perceive kids as a key market, and develop products and advertising campaigns aimed at them. With traditional smoking cigarettes rates on the decline in the U.S., the tobacco industry insures its livelihood by creating products and strategies that connect with a new generation of tobacco users.

“I want to ensure that my peers understand that candy-flavored tobacco is not safer than discount cigarettes or other ‘plain’ tobacco products,” said Kareem Golden (Putnam County), SWAT State Chair. “I see these products more and more in my everyday life -- in magazines, at sporting events, at local convenience stores. Plus, with some of the new dissolvable products, no one even knows when you’re using them, so I urge people to resist the lure of these products.”

Candy-flavored smokeless tobacco products are also perceived to be less harmful; but in reality, these products contain more nicotine than cigarettes, and 28 cancer-causing agents (carcinogens), including nitrosamines, which are the most harmful. In addition, people who experiment with smokeless tobacco often develop a pattern of regular daily use.

Fortunately, the onslaught of flavored tobacco products has not gone unnoticed. The controversial candy-flavored cigarette was banned under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Actin 2009. However, menthol cigarettes, flavored cigars, cigarillos and smokeless products were not included. Today, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is examining options for regulating these remaining categories of flavored tobacco products.

Many municipalities throughout the state of Florida have taken on candy-flavored tobacco head-on. In June, Sarasota County passed a resolution urging local vendors to cease the sale and marketing of all candy-flavored tobacco products. The Fort Myers City Council also signed a resolution that urges tobacco retailers to stop selling and marketing all flavored tobacco in the city limits.

Remember, candy-flavored tobacco products pose significant health risks. They can cause cancers of the mouth, lung, pancreas, esophagus, and larynx and possibly contribute to the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and other respiratory diseases.

Don’t be fooled by the most dangerous disguise of them all. If you are looking to quit or would like to encourage someone to stop using candy-flavored tobacco, Tobacco Free Florida can help. Tobacco Free Florida offers a number of free and convenient resources to help all tobacco users quit.

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