22nd Century Group Inc (XXII)

[futurethr]

"They have the burden of demonstrating that new products and product changes won't increase youth tobacco use, won't increase toxicity and won't wrongly deter people from quitting," said Matt Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

This guy is part of the problem that stands in the way of harm reduction.

1) Children are already prohibited from purchasing tobacco products. Current law needs to be enforced.

2) Tobacco companies are not allowed to market to minors; therefore, forcing tobacco companies to "prove" that their products won't increase youth tobacco use is irrelevant to the issue (ie., harm reduction) at hand. Framing this issue as one that is about the "youth" is merely a coded way of saying that we are going to do everything within our power to prohibit an adult smoker's access information about reduced risk products.

3) The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids campaign a smoke-free world has proven to be a colossal failure. There will always be smokers. That's reality. Therefore, the moral thing to do would be to try to reduce the risk from active smoking as much as possible and no amount of the "what if it keeps smokers smoking" argument should be allowed to stand in the way of what needs to be done to effectively put a dent in current and future tobacco mortality rates nationwide (and abroad).

4) If smoking is seen as being "cool" by some kids, it's because folks such Mr. Myers make it so. Rebelliousness has always been cool amongst teenagers.