Countering Big Tobacco’s latest threat

By The Gazette Editorial Board

---

Tobacco companies, having largely lost the long public health battle over the dangers of cigarette smoking, aren't giving up.

Instead, Big Tobacco is presenting addictive products in new formats. The latest is a dissolvable tobacco product - small pellets, sticks or strips of finely milled and pressed tobacco that dissolve like a breath mint. Dissolvables carry both a potent load of nicotine and health risks similar to those of other smokeless tobacco products, including oral cancer.

Linn County Public Health officials contend that the products' candy-like appearance makes them particularly dangerous for children. Officials argue that nicotine poisoning is a threat to young children, while dissolvables could also spark an unhealthy tobacco habit in older kids. We share their concerns.

Probably no later than May, the Linn County Board of Supervisors will consider three new ordinances aimed at the products, which are not yet for sale in the county. The county would use federal and state grant money to enforce the new rules.

We support two of the ordinances. One would ban retailers from offering “buy one, get one free” promotions that allow consumers to buy a tobacco product and get another product free. The second ordinance would ban temporary booths or structures where tobacco product samples are given away free. Both are common-sense restrictions consistent with the county's regulatory authority.

We're less supportive of a much broader third ordinance that would ban sales of these dissolvable products in the county.

We agree that dissolvables should be kept away from children, but state law already makes it illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to buy or possess tobacco products. The Linn County ban would prohibit businesses from selling a legal product to adults.

And if banning dissolvable products is going to be considered, we think that discussion should take place at the Statehouse. Instead of having a patchwork of county-by-county laws easily eluded by a short drive down the highway, a statewide law would better serve the interests of safeguarding public health. Stringent cigarette smoking restrictions, once mired in courtroom fights over the legality of local ordinances, are now statewide law. Public health has benefitted. The drive to restrict access to dissolvable tobacco should also seek a statewide hearing.

n Comments: thegazette.com/

category/opinion/editorial or

editorial@sourcemedia.net