“I’m going to assume that these are well-meaning people, but they are moving down a very slippery slope and do not realize the errors of their ways,” said Chris McCalla, legislative director of the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association. The IPCPR is joining the National Association of Tobacco Outlets and the Cigar Association of America to campaign against these actions.
The New York City Council is reviewing Proposed Introduction No. 433A that seeks to ban the sale of flavored cigarettes, flavored cigars, flavored chewing tobacco and other flavored tobacco products. At the same time, the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene wants to put graphic anti-smoking signs at cash registers where cigarettes are displayed, the first such action in the United States.
“They claim that banning the sale of flavored tobaccos is supposed to protect youth from purchasing these products. Age laws are already in place forbidding the sale of tobacco purchases by youths. Anyway, most flavored tobacco products have been included in recent federal legislation giving the Federal Drug Administration regulatory power over cigarettes. There is no reason for New York City to waste time debating whether to assume that authority,” said McCalla.
The IPCPR, an association of some 2,000 premium cigar store owners and manufacturers and distributors of premium tobacco products and accoutrements, also argues against the proposed anti-tobacco signage at cash registers because, among other reasons, it is discriminatory against a minority.
“About 20 percent of New York adults smoke, so that makes them a minority and that makes such signage discriminatory. Maybe they should consider putting signs in the candy sections of stores warning of the dangers of obesity and in the beer and wine sections proclaiming the dangers of alcoholism and drinking and driving. It is a slippery slope, indeed, and smokers and non-smokers alike should be against having the government tell them what to do,” he said.
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Source: International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers Association (www.ipcpr.org)
Executive Editor
Gary Korb has been writing and editing content for CigarAdvisor.com since its debut in 2008. An avid cigar smoker for over 30 years, he has worked on the marketing side of the premium cigar business as a Sr. Copywriter, blogger, and Executive Editor of Cigar Advisor. A graduate of the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, prior to his career in the cigar business, Gary worked in the music and video industry as a marketer and a publicist.
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