Blumenthal Praises Federal Proposal On Little Cigars

HARTFORD — Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, 39 other states, and the District of Columbia praised recently proposed federal rule changes to halt mislabeling of cigarettes as “little cigars” and urged federal officials to tighten the draft regulations even more.

The federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau proposed the changes after Mr Blumenthal and the states asked the agency in June 2006 to strengthen and clarify the legal definitions of cigars and cigarettes. The mislabeling of cigarettes as “little cigars” allows manufacturers to evade health warnings, advertising restrictions, payments under the national tobacco settlement, and taxes, which are much higher on cigarettes than cigars.

“I am pleased that federal authorities heeded our request and took the first step to stop the dangerous and disingenuous mislabeling of cigarettes as ‘little cigars,’” Mr Blumenthal said. “If it looks, smokes and tastes like a cigarette, it’s a cigarette, delivering addiction, illness, and early death to its users.”

He said these regulations — setting specific rules for wrapping paper, tobacco, filters, and packaging — will stop tobacco companies from exploiting legal loopholes to falsely market cigarettes as little cigars.

“Mislabeling allows little cigars to dodge taxes, warning labels and advertising bans,” Mr Blumenthal added. “Misleading consumers threatens public health and hard-won cuts in tobacco use, and robs states and the federal government of millions of dollars in taxes. I urge officials to tighten the proposed rules by requiring manufacturers to prove their products are cigars and establishing tougher standards for cigar content. The rules should ban packaging cigars to look like cigarettes.”

The federal government traditionally has used a jumble of regulations, interpretations, and administrative rulings to define the differences between cigars and cigarettes. Under the new proposal, federal authorities would adopt formal regulations that set specific standards for the content, wrapping, and packaging of cigarettes and cigars.

In a March 26 letter, Blumenthal and the other states praised the draft regulations, while urging changes. Those changes include testing to assure that cigars contain cigar tobacco in their wrappers and fillers and banning the sale of “little cigars” in packaging resembling cigarette packaging.

Other states joining in the letter were: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.