Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Carolina News Flavored cigarettes found to be harmful by Valerie Danner College Press Exchange Chicago - Ernest Castle, Jr. said he was smoking marijuana with some friends five years ago, when someone decided to pull out a strawberry-flavored bidi. The thin, brown cigarette, imported from India, resembled a joint, so Castle said he decided to try it. “I was curious,” Castle, a 22-year-old senior at Columbia College in Chicago said. “It made me mildly high for five min utes; it helped me unwind.” Castle said he was hooked on bidis from that moment on. He even credits his first puff on a bidi with helping kick his marijuana-smoking habit. He isn’t the only one loving bidis these days. Figures on bidi use in the United States are still in their infancy, but are slowly trickling in as bidis’ popularity ris es. Researchers consider the preliminary results disturbing. A study published last year in the “Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report” showed that in a survey of 642 youth in Massachusetts, 40 per cent said they had smoked a bidi in their lifetime, while 16 percent said they had lit one up at least once in the previous 30 days. Of those surveyed, 23 percent said they smoked bidis primarily because of their taste. The flavorful tastes of bidis are se ductive, but pack a mean punch, accord ing to researchers at the Center for Dis ease Control (CDC) in Atlanta The CDC reports that bidis contain less tobacco than traditional cigarettes but still have three to five more times the amount of nicotine and tar. CDC researchers say bidis — which are unfiltered — also release more deadly chemicals, such as ammonia and carbon monoxide. In India, where bidis are manufac tured, it is estimated that 500 billion of the cigarettes are produced and consumed each year. Bidis consist of tobacco, which is hand rolled in tendu leaves giving the cigarette a brown, herbal-like appearance — but a low combustibility, which caus es a smoker to inhale more deeply. The smokes’ seemingly harmless facade and shredded tobacco has earned bidi packs a spot on shelves in both tobacco shops and health food stores. Critics of bidis say con sumers are being duped by manufactur ers’ claims that bidis are a “more natur al” smoking alternative. Smokers — particularly young ones — are lured by bidis’ cheap cost, too. They sell for $2.20 for a pack of 25 compared to $2.50 to $3 for 20 cigarettes. And they come in a variety of flavors—everything from chocolate and vanilla, to more ex otic flavors such as mango and lemon. The United States is the only country that adds flavor to the cigarettes. “They are something new and differ ent, and they’ve gotten recent attention from the media,” said A. Jenny Foreit, an associate in research for the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids. “They’re slightly for bidden, and they are flavored so they’re easier to smoke.” Bidis started out big on the West Coast, in particular California. However, they are now creeping across the country and into major cities, such as Chicago, which last month became the first city in the na tion to ban the sale of bidis. “Teens are influenced by a lot of things,” says Jonathan Swaine, chief of staff for Chicago Alderman Terry Peter son, who introduced the bidi-ban bill. “This type of cigarette is more powerful, and in addition to that, is flavored, which mar kets it towards children. What was done in Chicago was a preemptive strike.” The state of Illinois is following suit. A bill to ban the sale of bidis statewide re cently passed in the state house and is cur rently pending before the state senate. Bidis have been imported into the Unit ed States for at least 20 years, but only re cently have found widespread populari ty Marriott from page A1 Marriott will also post federal notices at more than 5,000 of its non-union US lo cations declaring that employees have the right to jqin unions and are permitted to talk about their working conditions among themselves and with others. Masteller said he had not yet been in formed about the settlement, which came about after the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board notified Sodexho-Marriott in December 1999 that the government would bring a civil pros ecution for unfair labor practices unless it dropped the illegal work rules. The illegal rules first came to light during a labor dispute at the State Uni versity of New York in Albany where Sodexho-Marriott manages campus food services operations. 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