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Senator wants Chicago to ban bidis

R S Shankar

State Senator Barack Obama, a professor of civil rights at the University of Chicago and a community activist, has offered legislation that would ban the sale of bidis across Illinois.

No statistics are available for the consumption of bidis in the state, but the increase in the number of young people smoking bidis, often under the erroneous impression that they do not cause cancer, prompted the Chicago City Council to ban their sale two months ago. Chicago became the first city in America to prohibit the sale of bidis.

Many young people consider the bidis, which come in flavors like mint, wild cherry and grape, as fashionable, preferring the fruity flavors to regular tobacco.

"The added fruit flavors make kids feel like they are smoking candy -- more like a lollipop than a cancer-causing tobacco product," Diana Hackbarth, a professor at the Loyola University School of Nursing and board member of the Chicago Lung Association, told reporters recently.

"Kids report that they like the taste of bidis over cigarettes, that bidis are easy to buy and that they think they are safer than cigarettes," Hackbarth said.

Earlier in Chicago, city council members, community activists and academics rejected the argument of bidi importers, including Garry Avram, executive director of the Specialty Tobacco Council, that bidi sales were minuscule compared to those of cigarettes.

The Reverend Michael Pfleger, a Catholic priest in Chicago known for his outreach programs for the young, has said the fight against bidis should go on because what is a fad today could become a rage tomorrow.

United States Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois ridiculed the idea of bidis being dismissed as only a 'fad.'

'We need to take this fad seriously, since it puts kids on the road to nicotine addiction and future disease,' he wrote in a letter to anti-bidi activists.

'Parents should know that they need to talk to their children about a product that, although it may look harmless and taste like candy, is really a deadly poison.'

Senator Durbin has urged the US Customs Service to prevent smuggling of bidis, contending that avoidance of payment of federal excise taxes makes them cheaper for consumers to buy.

In December, Terry Peterson, who initiated the ban, showed to councilors packs of lemon-lime, chocolate, mango and strawberry-flavored cigarettes to illustrate their allure to young smokers, some of them grade-schoolers.

Ash, an anti-tobacco group, and health advocates assert bidis contain more than three times the amount of nicotine and carbon monoxide and over five times the amount of tar contained in regular cigarettes.

Though the American government temporarily banned the sale of Ganesha Bidis, alleging that child labor was used in producing them, other bidi exporters continue doing business in America.

Obama's call for the ban comes as many people in Chicago believe the teenagers are still getting their supply of bidis from other cities and states.

Several civil liberties and company lawyers say Obama's proposal for a blanket ban could lead to lawsuits. If cigarettes are not banned, outlawing bidis would be deemed unconstitutional, legal experts believe.

In a related development, over a dozen students demonstrated in Los Angeles recently at Kretek International, a tobacco distributor's headquarters, criticizing the company for allegedly targeting young men and women, and for allegedly buying products that involved child workers. Kretek has denied the students' charges.

"Tobacco in any flavor is still tobacco," said one placard while another said, "Bidis: Joe Camel's latest replacement." Anti-smoking activists such as Ash have accused Camel Cigarettes of targeting children.

Over 1,000 signatures, including those of children, anti-smoking leaders, teachers and parents, were submitted to the company, urging it to stop the import.

Among the signatories was Jeffrey Wigland, a former scientist at a tobacco company, whose fight against the industry led to multimillion dollar settlements between the tobacco companies and the government. Wigland, one of the most controversial of whistle-blowers in America, is the subject of the critically acclaimed film, The Insider, which is expected to garner Oscar nominations.

EARLIER REPORTS:
Chicago joins the war on bidis
Why Ganesh Bidis were banned
California teenagers target bidis, get backing of influential Congressman

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