Massachusetts Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

Flavored cigarettes outlawed by government

Every day 3,600 children and teenagers start smoking cigarettes, and of those, 1,100 become daily smokers, according to The New York Times. To discourage children from starting to smoke, the Food and Drug Administration recently banned flavored cigarettes, said the Times.

Tobacco companies are producing cigarettes flavored with chocolate, vanilla, clove, and other flavorings, and the FDA banned all of these flavorings because of the potential to entice children to smoke, said the article.

A study done in 2004, found that 17-year-old smokers were three times as likely as those over 25 to smoke flavored cigarettes and they also viewed flavored cigarettes as safer, said the article. These flavors included names like Twista Lime, Kauai Kolada, and Warm Winter Toffee, made by R.J. Reynolds, according to the Times.

Although 60% of children polled said they thought the cigarettes tasted better and were safer, they are as addictive and have the same health risks as other tobacco products, said the FDA. They quoted that 443,000 Americans die prematurely each year because of smoking and exposure to second hand smoke. The FDA said tobacco use causes more deaths each year than HIV, illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders COMBINED.