Why are Some Massachusetts Health Boards Willing to Protect Youth Smoking?

In what I can only call a bizarre phenomenon, a number of local boards of health in Massachusetts are sacrificing the public's health and protecting youth smoking under the guise of protecting adolescent health. These health boards have declared that flavored tobacco products represent a huge health threat to teens. But rather than banning the flavored cigarettes that are addicting and ultimately killing people, they are taking away the far less harmful electronic cigarettes that have helped many adults quit smoking.Case in point: Saugus, Massachusetts.Last week, the Saugus Board of Health voted unanimously to ban the sale of flavored electronic cigarettes, while allowing flavored cigarettes - which are favored by nearly 50% of Saugus youth smokers - to remain available in stores throughout the town.This means that although every gas station, convenience store, and pharmacy in Saugus will have to take most of their e-cigarettes off the shelves, they will not have to touch the flavored Marlboro, Camel, and Newport cigarettes that are so popular among the youth of Saugus. They will also be able to continue selling the mint and wintergreen smokeless tobacco products that are also popular among Saugus youth.In other words, the Board of Health is removing from the market products which probably kill no one, while protecting the sale of deadly consumer products that we know are killing hundreds of thousands of Americans each year.This makes absolutely no sense, and it is boggling t...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs