FDA Bans Candy Flavored Cigarettes

Candy Flavored Tobacco Products That Targeted Children off Store Shelves—

Beginning September 22, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) implemented a ban on candy and fruit flavored cigarettes, making it illegal to manufacture, distribute or sell these products that appeal primarily to youth. This step will save thousands of lives, preventing future generations of children from falling prey to an all too common marketing tactic used by tobacco companies.

This ban on flavored cigarettes is the FDA’s first major action since President Barack Obama signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act into law in June. The law gives the FDA the power to regulate both the manufacture and marketing of tobacco products. The American Lung Association battled for nearly 20 years to give FDA this critical authority.

Candy and fruit flavored cigarettes are a powerful draw for underage smokers. For years tobacco companies have been using flavors like strawberry, lime, honey and piña colada to disguise the taste of cigarettes. This masking effect makes it easier for children to become addicted to nicotine and develop a lifelong addiction to cigarettes.

The American Lung Association celebrates this important action by the FDA but much still remains to be done. Youth tobacco use is still a pressing issue in the United States. Every day, 3,600 American children under 18 try a cigarette for the first time. Almost 1,100 of them go on to become regular smokers – tragically replacing the over 392,000 tobacco industry customers who die of their addiction every year.

The Lung Association urges the FDA to strictly enforce this new ban, and take all necessary steps to ensure that all cigarettes with a characterizing flavor covered by the law are removed from the shelves.

The Lung Association also urges the FDA to continue to move forward with aggressive implementation of the other provisions of the law, such as establishing the new rule restricting access to tobacco products by youth.

You Can Help

Learn how you can help us keep kids off tobacco. You can also get more information and report violations of the ban on flavored cigarettes to the FDA by clicking here.

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