28 TOBACCO BUSINESS | SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER | 22 In its filed comments, the Cigar Association of America (CAA) stated that the FDA’s own data shows that underage usage of flavored cigars is at historic lows after years of continued decline. This data disproves the FDA’s main reason for the proposed ban. “This clearly shows that [the] FDA is proposing a solution in search of a problem. The underage usage of flavored cigars is minuscule,” stated CAA President David M. Ozgo. “It is a blatant example of targeting an industry that is clearly marketing its products to legal age adults.” When the FDA first tried to exercise its regulatory power of certain tobacco products in 1996, the only survey that studied youth usage of cigars—the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH)—reported the last 30-day youth usage at 5 percent in 1997. In 2020, the NSDUH tracked the last 30-day youth usage of cigars as being at 0.8 percent. Most recently, the government’s Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Survey (PATH) showed that youth’s last 30-day usage of cigars was down to 0.75 percent. Youth usage of flavored cigars was reported to be around just 0.29 percent. The CAA reiterated that one key purpose of the Tobacco Control Act— the law that gave the FDA the authority to regulate tobacco products— was to “continue to permit the sale of tobacco products to adults.” This was in conjunction with measures taken to ensure tobacco products are not sold or accessible to underage purchases. “In short, youth usage of flavored cigars continues to decline to almost unmeasurable levels,” Ozgo stated in the CAA’s filed comment in reference to the government’s own reported data. “[The] FDA asserts that flavored cigars attract youth. If that were true, we would expect flavored cigars to account for a majority of youth cigar use, but the government data clearly shows that youth usage of flavored cigars is tiny and declining further.” In addition to the CAA’s comment attacking the FDA’s proposal to ban flavored cigars on a scientific basis, the trade association explained that there would be devastating economic consequences stemming from the ban that would negatively impact many small businesses. Many of these businesses are minority owned, the CAA states. The ban would also negatively impact many cigar manufacturers, suppliers and cigar producing countries such as the Dominican Republic and Honduras. The Premium Cigar Association (PCA) also filed comments in opposition to the FDA’s proposed flavored cigar ban. In its filed comments, the PCA argued that the evidence the FDA relied on for formulating its proposal fails to demonstrate that the use of flavored cigar products “inherently poses an increased health risk relative to use of cigars without non-tobacco ‘characterizing flavors.’” The PCA also pushed back against the FDA’s claims that banning flavored cigar products would improve health equity, especially among subpopulations. Among the PCA’s concerns over the proposed flavored cigar ban was the rule’s impact on an advertiser’s or retail’s ability to describe the flavor profile of any cigar. The PCA pointed out the FDA’s failure not to offer a clear definition of ‘characterizing flavor’ but to instead focus on nonbinding factors that are vague and subjective and nature but if present, would or could indicate the presence of a characterizing flavor. If passed as is, this vagueness would make it very difficult for the cigar industry to implement and for the FDA to enforce consistently. Similar to the CAA’s comments, the PCA’s comments also pointed out that the FDA did not conduct an economic impact assessment on minority-owned small businesses. In addition, the FDA did not take into consideration what impact a ban on flavored cigars would have on commerce, immigration and economic stability for those in cigarproducing countries. “[The] FDA has a mechanism to prevent youth access to tobacco. Yet, instead of working to fulfill the statutory requirements of T-21, the agency is speeding recklessly toward product bans with questionable legal authority,” Scott Pearce, executive director of the PCA, commented in a press release. Greg Zimmerman, president of the PCA, added, “There is something inherently wrong about targeting communities for additional regulation based on race. Our retailers are part of the social fabric of the communities where they operate. They have a right to support their consumers’ product choices, whether they are premium cigars or flavored cigars.” TB I ASSOC I AT I ONS CIGAR TRADE GROUPS FILE COMMENTS OPPOSING PROPOSED FLAVORED CIGAR BAN Cigar trade groups have filed comments in opposition of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) proposed flavored cigar ban. Photo: Adobe Stock STAFF REPORT
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