Koutoujian statement on flavored cigarettes ban - 10/12/2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – October 12, 2006
BOSTON – State Rep. Peter Koutoujian, D-Waltham, House Chairman of the Joint Committee on Public Health, today said he plans to continue to push legislation he filed banning the sale of flavored cigarettes in Massachusetts despite tobacco manufacturer R.J. Reynolds’ recent agreement to stop selling the candy-themed products.
Massachusetts is among 38 states where R.J. Reynolds has agreed to stop selling its candy-orientated cigarettes and other tobacco products, such as “Twist Lime” and “Mocha Taboo” as a part of the resolution to an investigation as to whether the tobacco manufacturer had violated the terms of the 1998 agreement that prohibited the marketing of cigarettes to youths.
“This agreement does not include flavored cigarettes produced by other tobacco manufacturers, and it appears R.J. Reynolds believes it has left the door open to sell flavored cigarettes in the future so long as they are not designed and marketed like candy products, “said Koutoujian. “My legislation ensures that flavored cigarettes are banned across the board because youths are their primary market. These products are blatantly targeted at youths and designed to attract a whole new generation of smokers to replace the ones that have died off.”
According to the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, almost 90 percent of adult smokers began before age 19.
Koutoujian’s bill, “An Act Relative to Flavored Cigarettes in the Commonwealth (H. 3817)” bans the sale or marketing of any cigarette or any of its component parts containing, as a constituent or additive, an artificial or natural flavor or an herb or spice, including strawberry, grape, orange, clove, cinnamon, pineapple, vanilla, coconut, licorice, cocoa, chocolate, cherry, or coffee, that is a characterizing flavor of the tobacco product or tobacco smoke.
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