BIDI Petition Filed

ash.org

Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) has filed a legal petition with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requesting the FTC to halt the unfair and deceptive trade practices surrounding bidi cigarettes. Bidi cigarettes are as serious a health risk as regular cigarettes, but many customers, especially teenagers, purchase them in the mistaken belief that they are safer.

People believe that smoking bidis is healthy because -- unlike cigarettes and chewing tobacco ?? bidis frequently lack the required health warnings, are considered natural, are sold in health food stores, and contain flavorings such as strawberry, chocolate and cinnamon.

Yet, bidis have been shown to contain even greater amounts of tar and nicotine then regular U.S. cigarettes. They also have been determined to be carcinogenic and a cause of cardiovascular disease.

Bidi sellers, aware of the misconceptions of their customers regarding the health risks of bidis, have made no attempt to correct the deceptive impressions in callous disregard for the bidi smokers health.

ASH's petition requests that the Federal Trade Commission immediately initiate a rulemaking proceeding to insure that health warnings regularly appear on all bidi packages, that an additional health warning be mandated on all bidi labels/packages namely "WARNING: THIS PRODUCT IS NOT A SAFE ALTERNATIVE TO CIGARETTES" and that this and other health warnings begin to appear without any unreasonable delay at points of sale and in any advertisements that might develop for bidi cigarettes.

ASH believes that the same reasoning which led the FTC to propose health warnings for cigarettes following the release of the 1964 Surgeon General's report on smoking cigarettes, and which ultimately led to required health warnings on both cigarettes and chewing tobacco, should apply to bidis. Similarly, the same reasoning which led the FTC to require advertising to correct the implied health claim in the Winston "No Bull" campaign should now be applied to end the unfair and deceptive practice of bidi sales under circumstances that imply health claims.