Responding to the dramatic increase in cigar smoking in the United States in recent years, the Federal Trade Commission recommended last week that Congress mandate health warning labels on cigar packs — similar to those on packs of cigarettes.
Such mandated warning labels would actually benefit the cigar manufacturers — and pose substantial risks to cigar smokers.
Although at first glance it may seem obvious that government warnings on consumer products are a “good thing,” our experience with the cigarette warning labels proves just the opposite. Indeed, it is now clear from cigarette companies’ internal documents, that it was the cigarette companies themselves who wanted the so-called “Surgeon General’s label” mandated.
Why? Because in the mid-60s various states were individually requiring health warnings, and the prospect of 50 different labels boded chaos for interstate cigarette commerce. And more important, cigarette companies knew that they would enjoy special legal status. And that is exactly how it has played out over the past 34 years. Congress has in effect “pre-empted” the responsibility of the cigarette manufacturers to provide a detailed warning label.
The requisite Surgeon General’s warning label has provided the Industry with a type of “Teflon” protection against lawsuits. The Industry effectively argues in court that “cigarettes are not hazardous, but if they were, which they are not, Congress has forbidden us from giving you any detail about those risks.”
Thus we have wimpy, nonspecific cigarette labels which mention the words “risk,” “cancer,” and “emphysema,” but do not provide details as to how long and how much one needs to smoke in order to develop cigarette-linked disease. Nor are smokers informed about the myriad other health risks involved in smoking –including blindness, hearing loss,impotence, osteoporosis — and a full gamut of other diseases. And the states are prevented from requiring more stringent warnings as well, assuming they were so inclined.
If Congress again mandates health warning labels, then it will be making the same mistake — and giving the cigar industry executives exactly what they want — a layer of federal protection against lawsuits by those who are harmed by smoking cigars.
Let’s keep the government out of this — and let’s keep the pressure on the Industry to take responsibility on itself for informing the public about the health risks of smoking cigars.
And while Congress ponders the proposed cigar label, why doesn’t it also seriously consider stripping the federal warning label off all tobacco products, especially cigarettes. The Industry — purely for its own self-defense in court — would then be forced to issue detailed warnings, probably equal in size to the New York City telephone directory.
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Tags: cigarettes, consumer, manufacturers