Bidis Draw Scrutiny of Lawmakers Nationwide

By Sue Ellen Christian and Evan Osnos

The reasoning of 16-year-old Joe Binder of Lisle is typical of teenagers who opt for a once-obscure variety of Indian cigarettes called "bidis." "If I'm going to inhale noxious fumes, I'd prefer the fumes of a leaf rather than the fumes of a piece of paper," Binder said. Dubbed the poor man's cigarette in India, bidis are unfiltered smokes packed with tobacco flakes and hand-rolled in tendu or temburni or other leaves that are secured with a string at one end.

Bidis look like marijuana cigarettes, are easy to buy, oftentimes cheaper than conventional cigarettes and deliver more tar and nicotine than cigarettes.

And especially worrisome to health officials is the obvious attempt to attract young smokers; the cigarettes come in sprightly flavors such as watermelon, cherry and vanilla. The cigarettes are prompting a wave of legislative concern, including proposed measures by Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and a Chicago alderman to crack down on their availability and sale.

"It's a treat, they taste good," Binder explained after school one day on the Near West Side. "I like strawberry," he said, dashing off to catch the school bus.

Bidis have lawmakers, health officials and federal agencies worried that the cigarettes are becoming the trend among counterculture youths--and a new health survey of urban teenagers confirms those fears.

Despite an ongoing nationwide battle to combat smoking, particularly in young people, the novel cigarette is gaining popularity among American youths who are under the mistaken impression that bidis are less dangerous than cigarettes.

The pungent, exotic smokes, pronounced "beedies," pack more punch than a cigarette. To keep a bidi lit, smokers must breathe more deeply and take more puffs than with regular cigarettes, resulting in more tar and nicotine to the smoker. One study found that bidis produce approximately three times the carbon monoxide and nicotine and about five times the amount of tar that cigarettes produce.

Recently, Durbin issued letters to federal agencies urging them to prevent the sale of untaxed bidis, which now make the cigarettes cheaper to buy.

Also, Chicago Ald. Terry Peterson (17th) plans to introduce an ordinance this fall to ban all sales of bidis in the city. Laws already ban the sale of tobacco products to minors, and bidis are considered a tobacco product.

While Peterson acknowledges that the measure would inevitably face legal challenges, he hopes a fight would aid in "getting the information out, letting folks know that this is out there," he said.

A new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report shows that 40 percent of urban youths surveyed in Massachusetts had smoked bidis at least once, and 16 percent were current bidis smokers.

The survey, the first in the nation to estimate the prevalence of bidis smoking among 7th through 12th graders, reported that almost one-quarter of students smoked bidis instead of cigarettes because they taste better.

Federal agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Customs Service, are aware of bidis. Already, investigations are ongoing into the alleged use of forced child labor to produce bidis in India, the smuggling of bidis into the U.S. and sales of bidis without a health warning label, spokespeople for the agencies said.

Customs has obtained what is the first plea agreement with a bidis importer distributing packs without a surgeon general's warning, said an agency spokesman. Currently, five bidi importers have filed plans with the FTC to include health warning labels on their packs, according to the FTC.

And at least one state, Arizona, passed a law this year banning the sale of bidis to minors.