June 22- The Beginning of New FDA Tobacco Regulation

Terms like mild, light or low-tar will be banned in cigarette marketing and labeling. Starting June 22 new FDA rules regarding tobacco will begin to take effect. These rules are being authorized by the Family Smoking and Prevention Act. This will limit the tobacco industry’s ability to mislead the consumers with marketing and labeling like “light cigarettes” or “low tar cigarettes”. They say these are safer when they are not; they all present a risk for the society and for a person’s health. These products are more attractive to teenagers.

David Willoughby, CEO of Clear Way Minnesota(SM) said that the Act was approved by Congress and into law by President Barack Obama one year ago. FDA is responsible to regulate tobacco products. Marlboro Lights are the most popular brand in the entire world. For decades they used clever branding, packaging which suggest that some tobacco products are not as harmful as others. It is very important the fact that they will not exist under the same name.

The new regulations and the tobacco anniversary of the law represent a good reminder that tobacco usage is still the most important health concern. This problem cost Minnesota almost $2 billion a year in health care costs. So the made changes should represent the right step in the right decision.

The next components of the Act will go in effect:

Prohibit terms such as “light,” “low” and “mild” in all advertising, labeling and marketing of existing cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products. It has been demonstrated that these terms can mislead consumers into believing that certain tobacco products are safer than others.

Require larger, stronger warning labels on all smokeless tobacco products and in advertisements. Even though youth smoking is decreasing in general, 2.4 percent of high school girls and 15.6 percent of high school boys use smokeless tobacco, according to Asthma Survey and the Minnesota Youth Tobacco.

FDA tobacco rules also will ban branded product tie-ins, like as t-shirts, with cigarette and other tobacco purchases, and will not allow sales of cigarettes in packages where are fewer than 20 cigarettes are. There are many retailers who split packs and are making cigarettes more accessible and affordable to youth.

Because of these actions tobacco companies have announced plans to use color-coded packaging in order to replace the terms “mild”, “light” and “low”. Lighter colors will signify light cigarettes. For example, Marlboro Lights are in the present called Marlboro Golds.

The tobacco marketing is trying to find another scheme to hide the danger of their products. Willoughby said that no matter what they are light or gold the y present a risk. On June 22 the message is to choose to quit and not choose another color.

This year’s new tobacco regulations were built on changes that appeared under the Act in 2009, including:

FDA authority had to issue tobacco product standards which promote public health, like reducing or removing harmful ingredients.

The companies were required to make more researches about tobacco product contents, and the changes in products. Make more research about their health effects.

All artificial or natural characterizing flavors have to be banned, other than tobacco or menthol from all cigarettes and their component parts.