Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids Admits that Its Secret Campaign Promoted Youth Cigarette Addiction

Through a shocking revelation, we learned last week that a major, national anti-tobacco organization ran a secret campaign to promote youth cigarette addiction.The organization: The Campaign for Tobacco-Free KidsThe secret campaign: Federal lobbying against a ban on menthol-flavored cigarettes.The admission: This campaign promoted youth cigarette addiction by protecting the cigarette companies ' ability to market the most popular flavored cigarette (menthol) to youth and the campaign worked: menthol cigarette use among youth increased significantly thanks to the lobbying efforts of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.The reason I call this revelation shocking is that I find it scandalous that an organization which is supposedly dedicated to fighting youth addiction to cigarettes would secretly lobby for legislation that protects cigarette companies ' profits by blocking public health efforts to prohibit the companies ' ability to use flavored cigarettes to attract and addict kids to smoking.And instead of admitting its mistake and apologizing, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids is now bemoaning the devastating damage that was caused by menthol cigarettes without acknowledging that it waslargely responsible for this damage because it lobbiedagainst taking menthol cigarettes off the market.The Rest of the StoryWhen Congress debated the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which was signed into law by President Obama in 2009, perhaps the most critical issue it consi...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs