美国曼哈顿法官支持香味烟草销售禁令

    美国曼哈顿法官支持香味烟草销售禁令

    一起指控该城市的即将到来的加香无烟烟草产品禁令的诉讼，上了法庭。

    曼哈顿联邦法官柯琳·麦克马洪拒绝阻止即将在4月生效的该法律，理由是当地政府可以管理不受联邦法律约束的烟草制品。

    “对于限制联邦政府设置低于地方销售规则方面，国会的表达非常清晰、明确，尽管该国的不同地方仍对使用烟草产品的敏感程度不同，”她写道。

    去年由市长彭博签署的该城市法律，除了烟草吧外，禁止出售加香雪茄和无烟烟草产品。除了薄荷烟之外的加香卷烟，都被联邦政府所禁止。

    市府官员欢迎该项裁决，声称它将帮助儿童远离如糖果、水果或者香料口味的烟草产品体验。

    “我们的法律有了很大进步，将保护我们年轻的纽约人。如果烟草公司认为他们可以对抗常识立法，该法庭的决定清楚地表明了立场，”City Council的发言人Christine Quinn说。

    也制造几种无烟烟草品牌的卷烟制造商奥驰亚的一位发言人表示，该公司将继续其在法庭的战斗。

    “我们继续认为，该城市无权采取该条例，因为它规定的产品标准与联邦法律的不同或者超出了规定，”发言人约翰·马歇尔说。“该城市应该让美国食品及药物管理局在管理过程中，考虑这些问题，并允许公众发表评论和机构基于科学证据发表意见。”

    Judge upholds ban on flavored-tobacco sales

    New York Post

    March 24, 2010

    A legal assault against the city's upcoming ban on flavored smokeless tobacco got chewed up in court.

    Manhattan federal Judge Colleen McMahon refused to block the law -- slated to go into effect in April -- on grounds that local governments can regulate tobacco products not covered by federal law.

    "Congress expressed a clear and unmistakable preference for limiting the federal government's role to setting a floor below which no local sales regulations could go, while remaining sensitive to differing sensibilities about the use of tobacco products in different parts of the country," she wrote.

    The city law, signed by Mayor Bloomberg last year, bars the sale of flavored cigars and smokeless tobacco except in tobacco bars. Flavored cigarettes, other than menthol, are already banned by the federal government.

    City officials hailed the ruling, saying it would help keep kids from experimenting with tobacco made to taste like candy, fruit or spice.

    "Our law is a good progressive law that will protect our youngest New Yorkers. If tobacco companies think they can fight common-sense legislation, this court decision clearly shows otherwise," City CouncilSpeaker Christine Quinn said.

    A spokesman for cigarette maker Altria, which also manufactures several brands of smokeless tobacco, said the company would keep up its court fight.

    "We continue to believe that the City lacks the authority to adopt this ordinance because it imposes product standards that are different from or in addition to those imposed by (federal law)," spokesman John Marshall said. "The City should allow the FDA to consider these issues in due course in the context of a regulatory process that allows for public comment and agency consideration of scientific evidence."