Comment: Again, we note that laws banning smoking, 'fighting' climate change, 'fighting' Covid, and 'providing' social justice all go hand-in-hand. There's a tight set of topics that a certain cohort of every population is obsessed with forcing all to conform with...
The White House is considering implementing a measure that would force cigarette companies to adjust the levels of nicotine in their products to a non-addictive or minimally-addictive level, according to The Wall Street Journal.
They are also reportedly considering a total ban on menthol products, which have long been considered a gateway product for younger smokers.
Comment: This move was 'pioneered' by the Irish govt last year, during the first week of lockdown.
The Food and Drug Administration, which has regulatory oversight of tobacco, must respond in court by 29 April to a citizens' petition to ban menthols.
Sources within the FDA say there is strong support for banning menthol cigarettes and small cigars, according to The Washington Post.
Comment: Small cigars?
The 2009 Tobacco Control Act banned candy, fruit and spice flavorings in cigarettes because of their potential appeal to children, but did not deal with menthol.
The FDA estimates that there are more than 19 million smokers of menthol cigarettes in the US, which includes a large majority of African American smokers.
The government body says that nicotine itself does not cause cancer, lung or heart disease, but it causes the addiction to cigarettes that have been linked to 480,000 deaths in the US annually.
Comment: Unsurprisingly, this leaves space for pharmaceutical companies to make money from smoking replacement products, like gum and patches.
Tobacco stocks fell sharply on Wall Street after news of the potential ban broke on Monday, with Altria shares closing down more than 6 per cent, British American Tobacco shares down 2 per cent, and Philip Morris International shares down more than 1 per cent.
"Any action that the FDA takes must be based on science and evidence and must consider the real-world consequences of such actions, including the growth of an illicit market and the impact on hundreds of thousands of jobs from the farm to local stores across the country," said Altria spokesperson George Parman.
R.C.
*HFL: Last night, first time in my life, I bought nicotine of any sort. A vape thing at a place which would have been called a 'head shop' before they all got busted around here in the 70's and 80's long before the great informed clerk kid there - ~20? -who taught me LOTS was a twinkle in his mama's eye.
RC