WASHINGTON, Jun 26 (Reuters Health) - Cigar products sold in the US will now
carry Surgeon General warnings advising users of the serious health risks
associated with cigar smoking, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced on
Monday.
In separate settlements with the seven largest US cigar manufacturers,
including Swisher International and Havatampa, Inc., the FTC has ordered that
cigar boxes, smaller packages and individual cigars be labeled with one of five
different Surgeon General statements: "Cigar Smoking Can Cause Cancers Of The
Mouth And Throat, Even If You Do Not Inhale"; "Cigar Smoking Can Cause Lung
Cancer And Heart Disease"; "Tobacco Use Increases The Risk Of Infertility,
Stillbirth And Low Birth Weight"; "Cigars Are Not A Safe Alternative To
Cigarettes"; and "Tobacco Smoke Increases The Risk Of Lung Cancer And Heart
Disease, Even In Nonsmokers."
The warnings will be rotated at 3-month intervals.
Cigar smoking "is not a harmless alternative to cigarette smoking and
carries its own risk," FTC Chairman Robert Pitofsky said Monday at a press
conference in the commission's Washington headquarters. Allowing cigar
manufacturers to sell their products with no mention of the proven health
consequences of smoking "is sending the wrong message and we want smokers to be
disabused (of this misperception)," he said.
Pitofsky noted that the commission's deals with the cigar-making Big Seven
will cover 95% of all cigars made and/or distributed in the US. They grew out of
a 1998 report compiled by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) that detailed
causal connections between cigar smoking and disease, including cancers of the
mouth and lungs, heart disease and emphysema. In addition, the report stressed
the dangers of secondhand cigar smoke.
The crackdown on cigar makers follows worrying evidence of a "sharp
increase" in the use of cigars, particularly among teenagers, and of a rise in
cigar smoking among women, Pitofsky stressed.
Although the FTC's settlements initially targeted the US cigar giants, the
smaller companies' turn at the negotiating table is coming, Pitofsky said. "We
just haven't gotten to them yet," he noted.
The new warnings for cigar products go further than current warnings for
cigarettes because they require more aggressive package placement and include a
first-time mention of secondhand smoke, which has caused some observers to
speculate what they may portend for cigarette makers down the road. Pitofsky
said that the commission has "called on Congress" via previous annual reports to
pass legislation for similar, more vigorous warnings on cigarette packaging and
will continue to do so.
US Surgeon General David Satcher, who attended the FTC press conference,
said that the addition of warnings to cigar products "closes a dangerous
loophole," which he said perpetuated the mistaken belief that "the absence of
warnings means absence of risks." Satcher added that warnings on all tobacco
products of the addictive properties of nicotine is an eventual goal of the FTC
and his office.
The FTC's consent orders take effect in 30 days and allow the cigar firms
180 days for compliance, but Pitofsky said it is the hope of the commission that
the companies will take action "more promptly than that."
California led the way in the push for Surgeon General warnings on cigar
products, enacting a law in 1988. California will realign its cigar warnings to
comport with those required by the FTC, but they will remain "essentially the
same," noted California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, who addressed the
conference via teleconference.
The American Lung Association welcomed the FTC's announcement but said that
it "strongly believes that to fully, effectively protect public health, cigars,
cigarettes and other tobacco products should be regulated by the Food and Drug
Administration."
According to an association statement, the new warnings could help "squelch
the illusion that cigar smoking is glamorous or a trendy pastime with few health
consequences."
