The Cigar Association of America (CAA) is warning that a proposed ban on flavored cigars put forth by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) could have a deleterious impact on both public health.
In April the FDA proposed a prohibition on “all characterizing flavors (other than tobacco) in cigars.” The agency claimed this would “significantly reduce disease and death from combusted tobacco product use, the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., by reducing youth experimentation and addiction, and increasing the number of smokers that quit.”
However, CAA President David M. Ozgo claimed this prohibition would create more harm than good because a black market would be created to keep the products available for sale. Ozgo added that unlike flavored cigars that are manufactured according to federal quality control standards, black market cigars would be haphazardly created and could contain dangerous contaminants that are absent from the regulated products.
“Making flavored cigars illegal will not eliminate the demand for flavored cigars; it will only criminalize their sale and create illicit markets,” Ozgo said. “The nation has seen this with marijuana and our failed experiment in alcohol prohibition in the 1920’s.”
