Tobacco related ordinances aimed at protecting youth

By Tim Boyle

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George Bernard Shaw, the Irish playwright, once wrote that youth is wasted on the young. Sorry to say, the ingenious and insidious marketing of tobacco is wasted on our young people, too. Nothing new, of course. Since the days of Marlon Brando and James Dean, rebels with or without causes have lit one up in the face of authority.

Your Linn County Health Department is battling what Director Curtis Dickson calls the third wave of tobacco marketing. The first wave was targeted at GIs during and after World War II. The second wave rode the coattails of feminism in the early '70s. Ask any baby boomer about Virginia Slims and the suggestion that she had come a long way, baby.

Now, in 2011, the Health Department board is asking the Board of Supervisors to pass three ordinances to limit the appeal of this third wave of new smokeless and flavored temptations.

As smoking becomes less and less acceptable, smokeless products are slipping through the cracks and into the mouths of babes.

Today, kids are sharing Snus - delicate, fragrant little tea bags that fit snugly behind a girl's upper lip. New flavors of Skoal and Copenhagen tempt young tastes with orange, peach and wild berry flavors.

OK, Mom and Dad, get ready to add another word to your tobacco vocabulary: dissolvables. In the delightful tradition of the Tic-Tac, please meet Ariva. It's minty-fresh and laced with 4,000 chemicals, including a dose of nicotine several times greater than a Marlboro. Speaking of which, Marlboro sticks are on sale in St. Louis and other test markets. The stick is a toothpick that melts in the mouth and sends a wicked dose of chemicals into your son's blood stream on his way to study hall.

The Health Department, specifically through a project funded by the Center for Disease Control, is trying to build barriers between Big Tobacco and our kids. Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW) is the program and its staff is on the front lines. They have a wealth of compelling information on tobacco in the 21st Century.

Immediately and most important, the Linn County Health Department board is asking the county supervisors to enact three ordinances. One ordinance will prohibit the sale of dissolvables, available in parts of Iowa, but not yet in Linn County. Another ordinance bans free sample giveaways of smokeless products from pop-up tents and roving vehicles at public events. The third bans buy-one, get-one gimmicks. These ordinances will not make any activity illegal which is currently legal. They will lower the chances that your child gets hooked on a killer habit.

You see, the tobacco industry must appeal to teenagers because they are the future consumers. Altria and R.J. Reynolds know that nine out of ten adult tobacco users started as teens. But, doggone, their best customers keep dying.

Contact your county supervisor and tell him or her that passing these three ordinances won't cost a dime and won't limit any adult's freedom to make a poor decision. These ordinances will protect your kids from a miserable habit and a premature death.

Tim Boyle is a member of the Leadership Team of CPPW, Communities Putting Prevention to Work, a project of the Linn County Health Department. Comments: t.boyle@mchsi.com