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The Business Council opposes this legislation that would amend Public Health Law to prohibit the sale of flavored tobacco products.
Regulation of tobacco products and their flavor should occur at the federal level through the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which has the expertise to determine the appropriate role of characterizing flavor in tobacco products.
Additionally, this bill would be repetitive as the FDA, under the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, has already used its resources to determine which characterizing flavors should be removed from tobacco products. The law indicates that any “cigarette or any of its component parts (including the tobacco, filter, or paper) shall not contain, as a constituent (including a smoke constituent) or additive, 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, that is a characterizing flavor of the tobacco product or tobacco smoke.”
We believe that the Food and Drug Administration has the scientific authority to regulate characterizing flavor in tobacco products and that through the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act has already addressed the issue.
For these reasons, The Business Council recommends against approval of S.1825 / A.128.