A special place in Hell for tobacco executives

Gerry McGill — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:20:11 GMT

I hope there is reserved a special place in Hell for tobacco company executives. First there were flavored cigarettes. Guess what age group they were aimed at? Then I have been receiving junk emails for "Electronic Cigarettes", whatever they are, being pimped by shock jock Howard Stern. But today the Associated Press reports that R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company is test marketing disolvable tobacco products and says they are designed for adults. The trouble is, the little tablets look an awful lot like the Pez candies my grandsons consume.

Some members of the U.S. Senate call the product "tobacco candy" and say the are designed with one thing in mind: to get kids hooked on nicotine.

"Tobacco candies are clearly designed to appeal to children through both packaging and taste," said Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore. "This is not a safe product. This is not safe tobacco. It is a product that, like cigarettes, causes cancer and kills."

Merkely and Sen Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio have co-sponsored a provision in the Senate tobacco bill requiring the government to study health effects of dissolvable tobacco. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) would be given authority to restrict how the products are marketed and sold.(somehow that doesn't make me feel any better about it)

A spokesperson for North Carolina based R.J. Reynolds accused Merkley and others of intentionally distorting the nature of the dissolvable tobacco products. "It's not tobacco candy. That terminology is their terminology," says David Howard , a spokesman for Reynolds.

I wonder how the two Senators from North Carolina will vote on Senators Merkely and Brown's provision?

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Gerry McGill

Biloxi / Gulfport Personal Injury Lawyer - tobacco candies

A special place in Hell for tobacco executives