1 Regular cigar smoking also increases the risk of coronary heart disease, cardiovascular disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The glamorization and advertisement of cigars during the 1990's fueled a concurrent, sharp increase in the cigar sales throughout the United States . This troubling consumption trend, which reversed a 30 year decline in cigar smoking, has enticed many new cigar smokers, including younger men, women and adolescents. To that end TCRC submits the following comments and suggestions to modify the cigar warning requirements contained in the Consent Orders. Increase the Size of the Warnings on Cigar Packaging and in Cigar Advertising Parts II and IV of the proposed Consent Orders set forth a series of detailed requirements for the size of warnings to be placed on cigar packages and advertisements.
Research shows that larger warnings on tobacco products are most effective.
Another study of the Australian warnings suggests that larger warnings may decrease the attractiveness of tobacco packaging to adolescents. The proposed Consent Orders carve out a number of exceptions for cigar advertising. First and foremost, cigar advertising is only subject to the warning requirements if it is paid for, at least in part, by one of the respondents. A recent study published in the American Journal of Public Health concluded that on-line cigar advertising is both pervasive and particularly attractive to adolescents. The Commission's expressed intent to require health warnings on Internet and other forms of electronic cigar advertising is thus both laudable and appropriate.