What is the significance of today’s announcement on flavored cigarettes?
Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, claiming over 400,000 lives each year. An important way to reduce the death and disease caused by smoking is to prevent children and adolescents from starting to smoke. Studies have shown that 17 year old smokers are three times as likely to use flavored cigarettes as are smokers over the age of 25. In addition to being more attractive to young people, flavored products make it easier for new smokers to start smoking by masking the unpleasant flavor of tobacco. Studies have also demonstrated that young people believe that flavored tobacco products are safer than unflavored tobacco products. Flavored cigarettes are just as addictive and have the same types of harmful effects as regular cigarettes. Removing these flavored products from the market is important because it removes an avenue that young people can use to begin regular tobacco use. Congress specifically enacted the ban on sale of cigarettes and their compo
