Posted on 02/22/2014 4:29:42 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the first time on Friday used its authority under a 2009 law to remove cigarettes from stores.
The FDA is forcing Jash International to stop selling and distributing its line of Sutra Bidi tobacco products in the U.S., and is giving retailers 30 days to pull the products from shelves.
The FDA said Jash did not submit updated applications for a line of cigarettes up for review under The Tobacco Control Act.
Companies with tobacco products on the market when the law passed in 2009 had until 2011 to prove they met new requirements. If they failed to do so, Congress gave the FDA the authority to declare the products illegal.
Friday marks the first time the FDA has ordered a manufacturer of cigarettes to withdraw a product from the market.
The tobacco industry has been under a sustained assault by the Obama administration and Democrats in recent months.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius pledged in an op-ed on Friday that her administration was working “to make the next generation tobacco-free.”
In January, the surgeon general released a report detailing new health consequences related to smoking to mark the 50th anniversary of its landmark report tying smoking to lung cancer.
The surgeon general proposed new “end game” strategies aimed at the 42 million adult and 3 million young adult smokers in the U.S., such as hard-hitting media campaigns, tobacco excise taxes high enough to deter young smokers and easy-to-access cessation treatment.
Meanwhile, some retailers are also beginning to consider whether they want to sell cigarettes at all.
The drug store chain CVS Caremark earlier this month announced it would phase out cigarettes, chewing tobacco and cigars by Oct. 1.
"We've come to the conclusion that cigarettes have no place in a setting where health care is being delivered," said CVS Caremark CEO Larry Merlo.
Democrats are urging other stores to follow CVS’s lead, sending letters to Wal-Mart, Walgreen Co., Rite Aid Corp. and the National Association of Chain Drug Store urging them to stop sales of tobacco products.
In its Friday release, the FDA touted its new control over the tobacco industry.
“Historically, tobacco companies controlled which products came on and off the market without any oversight,” Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, said in a statement.
“But the Tobacco Control Act gave the FDA, a science-based regulatory agency, the authority to review applications and determine which new tobacco products may be sold and distributed under the law in order to protect public health.”
Someone has to be the street dealer for the PRESCRIBED dope people take.
People spit on heroin junkies but the revered Rush Limbaugh is a heroin junkie.
Misuse in so called healthy people by any prescribed medicine is different from any street addict how?
I thought Nancy Pelosi said sales had to continue but with increased tax to fund the Children’s Health Program. So what about the children?
Wow, nice rant! Someone find your stash? perhaps you can point me to the articles detailing, with proof, Rush's heroin use? All I have ever heard or read about was his addiction to Oxycontin and arrest for prescription fraud in the procurement of same. Obviously you have some inside personal knowledge that never made the news.
Nothing’s more destructive to freedom than a liberal with so-called ‘good intentions’
Have you noticed that a lot of his petitions are showing up at local college campuses? He ain’t trolling Century Village, that’s for sure.
>>Just to make sure I understand. Smoking tobacco is bad, smoking pot is good. Right?
You nailed it.
I am really surprised by this insofar as the liberals never met a tax they didn’t like. They must not be getting sufficient kickbacks from the company in question.
There are many long term members of FR that are rejoicing over this news, but they really hate being called liberals.
I remember that. I was a kid at the time, but my parents and grandparents were big fans of Rush Limbaugh. When he got busted, he went on the radio and humbled down. He asked his listeners to forgive him and pray for his recovery. Then he disappeared into rehab for a couple of months. And when he came back on the radio, he was more popular than he was before he fell. Some of his listeners could relate to what he went through.
We know what’s best for you. Just comply. And send in your taxes. And don’t listen to those dangerous people talking about “freedom.”
My neighbor rolls his own, and it evens comes in menthol, but I haven’t seen him growing any tobacco plants ... “yet” ... smiles.
He buys the cans of tobacco, and has a rolling machine with the filters to place in them too. He said there’s different kinds of tobacco he can buy and he kind of makes his own blend, I guess like they do tea leaves to get just the right flavor.
My biggest fear will be the feds pushing zero-tolerance drunk driving laws. It will totally kill the tavern and restaurant industries.
I agree with the point you are making but have to pick one nit. There have been accidents caused by cigarette smoking, but not because the smokers were impaired as they are with pot. Most cigarette accidents are caused by inattention to driving (similar to those caused by fiddling with the radio or eating while driving). I have also heard of lit cigarette butts thrown out the window flying into the car/truck behind and starting a fire or injuring someone.
Your bottom line I totally agree with: reefer makes you stupid and lazy, and it destroys your ambition. Maybe that’s why the libs are so in favor. It’s easier to control sheeple with no ambition.
“Just to make sure I understand. Smoking tobacco is bad, smoking pot is good. Right”?
I never could follow this logic either. The closest someone came to explaining was that you couldn’t smoke 20 joints.
Of course...there’s also the idiot here in WA state that doesn’t understand that just because it’s legal that you can’t go light up a joint on your break. Blooming idiots. Surrounded by blooming idiots.
Before anyone asks...I could give a fig if you want to smoke a joint. I really don’t care. But I do feel like a business does have the right to say no to smoking a joint or having a beer on your break/for lunch.
/johnny
I despise breathing cigarette smoke. I also despise having to pay higher insurance rates in order to cover smoking-related diseases. But I support the freedom of others to make the choice whether or not to smoke. (Just don’t force me to breathe it or pay for it.)
I’d prefer that people choose not to smoke, but I’d prefer even more that the government get out of our private lives. Why are libs “pro-choice” on abortion, but not pro-choice on smoking? And can you imagine the uproar if tattoos and piercings were banned (in the interest of health, of course)?
I've heard this excuse, too.
But don't forget that joints are unfiltered, and you not only inhale, but hold the smoke in your lungs to get the full effect.
Nobody smokes cigarettes like that.
So technically, yeah, not a pack a day. But I'd wager that "only" smoking 4-5 unfiltered Camels in said manner would be pretty bad for one's lungs, too.
Does this include those who smoke “KOOLS”?
Indeed (he said, sharpening his tomahawk and loading another magazine). Claire Wolfe's alarm clock has to be getting ready to go off any time now.
Woof, woof!
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
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