FDA Cigarette Regulations Protect Big Tobacco, Not Public Health

From Reason.com -

"Last week the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) exercised its authority to remove tobacco products from the market for the first time ever. “It's a big deal,” Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, told The New York Times. Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products, called the order “historic” and says it demonstrates “the role and power of regulation.” Countless news articles reported the ruling and noted its significance. What nearly all of them missed, however, is that the manufacturer of the products in question–hand-rolled Indian cigarettes called bidis–says they have been off the American market for years. An attorney for Jash International, the company that makes the Sutra brand banned by the FDA, says they stopped selling them when a legal prohibition on flavored cigarettes took effect in 2010."

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