New York City Bans Flavored Tobacco Products

New York mayor Michael Bloomberg has recently signed into legislation a bill that prohibits the sale of most forms of flavored tobacco products in New York City.  This law adds additional restrictions on top of the recent federal Food and Drug Administration’s ban on candy- and fruit-flavored cigarettes, which took effect last month.

New York Times blog writer Sewell Chan says:

“The legislation covers “chocolate, vanilla, honey, candy, cocoa, dessert, alcoholic beverage, herb or spice flavors,” but exempts “tobacco, menthol, mint or wintergreen flavors.” The city ban includes cigars and smokeless tobacco, while the federal ban is limited to cigarettes. That ban prohibits the sale of cigarettes with “an artificial or natural flavor (other than tobacco or menthol) or an herb or spice, including strawberry, grape, orange, clove, cinnamon, pineapple, vanilla, coconut, licorice, cocoa, chocolate, cherry, or coffee.”

Violaters of this may be fined up to $2,000 per offense and have their tobacco-vending license suspended.

For the full blog post by Sewell Chan (and accompanying comments) click here.