Spin Cycle

Gov. Eliot Spitzer today called for a state ban on flavored cigarettes that allegedly target youth smokers.

The move came six months after New York and 39 other states reached a settlement with R.J. Reynolds, where the tobacco giant voluntarily agreed to stop selling flavored cigarettes carrying names like “Twista Lime” and “Mocha Taboo.”

Speaking at a meeting of the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, Spitzer decried the fact that 700,000 children take up smoking each year and 220,000 will die prematurely.

“This is a crisis,” the freshman governor said in Manhattan this morning. “We must take aggressive action to reduce these numbers.”

Details of Spitzer’s proposal weren’t immediately available and Sharpton barred him from taking questions from audience members. Later, Spitzer declined to meet briefly with reporters because of other appointments.
Representatives of R.J. Reynolds did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.

The cigarette ban was part of Spitzer’s so-called “children’s agenda,” which also includes restricting the sale of violent video games and movies to minors, and serving nutritious food in schools.

UPDATE: State Sen. Charles Fuschillo, Jr. (R-Merrick) introduced a bill earlier this month prohibiting the sale of flavored cigarettes.

James T. Madore