HLF recently filed regulatory comments to the Food and Drug Administration in opposition to proposed bans on menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars.  The Hispanic Chambers of Commerce of California, Los Angeles and San Francisco, and the Neighborhood Business Alliance all joined HLF’s submission, which urged the FDA to reconsider the harmful consequences of the ban on communities, consumers, small businesses, and the American economy as a whole.

HLF and the four other organizations asserted that the flavored cigar proposal would “devastate” Hispanic-owned enterprises for whom the category is “many times the center of competition among brands.” The FDA acknowledges that the rule would cost an average of $2 million a year over 40 years, “a blow many if not most of them would never be able to survive.”

The comment also underscored that Latino-owned small businesses that sell some of the targeted products are also major economic engines, “frequently providing a first rung up on the job ladder, serving as oases in inner-city and rural food deserts, and providing a major source of SNAP food sales.” Given the major impact expected on these retailers’ sales, “it follows that the taxes generated by these sales will also plummet, causing increased pressure on state and local governments and taxpayers in general.”

The organizations also pointed to the “massive increase in counterfeiting and contraband sales” expected as a result of the bans will be another devastating consequence of these proposed bans, undermining the efforts of licensed retailers who “play a key role in preventing anyone who is not of legal age from purchasing tobacco products.” Moreover, “illicit sellers are highly likely to rely on unregulated products” that “pose a greater health risk to consumers and cost taxpayers millions in lost revenue” and the trafficking of which “is controlled by street gangs” and would thus lead to “increased criminal activity, violence, and burdens on law enforcement.”

The organizations’ leaders conclude that “Hurting responsible manufacturers, retailers as well as their workers and consumers, and enhancing a black market for products that will not simply disappear, should not be an appropriate policy action.”

Read the full comments here.