Cigar Association Opposes FDA's Flavored Cigar Ban Proposal

Source: Andrii

The Cigar Association of America (CAA) has submitted a comment opposing the proposed ban on flavored cigars by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), citing the FDA's data that shows underage use of flavored cigars (the main reason for the proposal) is at a historic low and has been steadily decreasing since the year before last.

This clearly indicates that the FDA is proposing solutions to address the issue," said David M. Ozgo, president of the CAA, in a statement. "The use of flavored cigars by minors is insignificant. This is a blatant example of an industry targeting legally-aged adults with their products.

A commentary has highlighted that one of the primary objectives of the Tobacco Control Act, which grants the FDA the authority to regulate tobacco, is to allow the sale of tobacco products to adults while taking measures to ensure that they are not sold or obtained by underage buyers. The current historically low levels of youth use indicate the effectiveness of existing measures.

According to the CAA, government evidence indicates that the use of cigars by young people is so low that it is almost negligible. When the FDA first sought regulatory authority over certain tobacco products in 1996, the only survey tracking adolescent use of cigars in 1997, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), showed a recent 30-day youth use rate of 5%. In 2020, NSDUH tracked the proportion of adolescents who used cigars in the past 30 days to be 0.8%.

The commentary from the CAA emphasized the latest population assessment data from the government's Tobacco and Health Survey (PATH), which shows an overall decrease in the proportion of teenagers using cigars in the past 30 days to 0.75%, with the proportion of teenagers using flavored cigars being only around 0.29%.

In summary, the use of flavored cigars among teenagers has continued to decline to almost immeasurable levels, said Ozgo in the submitted comment. "The FDA claims that flavored cigars will attract young people. If this is true, we expect flavored cigars to make up the majority of cigar use among teenagers," the comment added.

But government data clearly indicates that the usage of flavored cigars among teenagers is minimal and decreasing further," stated Ozgo.

The comment also points out that the proposed ban lacks scientific basis, but will have devastating economic consequences. Many small businesses, typically those owned by minorities, will be negatively impacted as well as various cigar manufacturers, suppliers, and producers from countries like the Dominican Republic and Honduras.

Furthermore, comments from the CAA have reiterated that the FDA has not shown any differentiated impact on health caused by flavored cigars, and banning them may lead to the development of an unregulated illegal market for flavored cigars. Products produced and sold illegally often contain dangerous additives.

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