A new fad is emerging among today’s teenagers, and it is putting them at a high risk for nicotine addiction as well as disease. Bidis — thin, unfiltered cigarettes wrapped in brown leaves — are becoming the latest rage among kids.
They are just as bad as, if not worse than, regular cigarettes. Bidis come in several flavors, including strawberry, chocolate, almond and root beer. They are sold in tobacco specialty stores and health food stores.
Imported from India, they appear to be natural, herbal and safe; however, they contain more cancer-causing agents than regular cigarettes. Bidis contain less tobacco than regular cigarettes, but they have three times more nicotine and five times more tar, according to Samira Asma, an epidemiologist for the Atlanta-based U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Because bidis are filterless, more of the cancer-causing agent — tar — goes directly to the smoker’s system.
According to a study done by the Booker T. Washington Community Service Center in San Francisco, seven out of 10 Bidis packages do not have the surgeon general’s warning on them.
Michael Ostheimer, a staff attorney for the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, D.C., said bidis packages are required to have health warnings on them, but some packages are illegally imported and distributed without them.
Bidis smoke has a pleasant, scented fragrance, much different from the odor of regular cigarette smoke, and some say they taste better.
Sold for about a dollar less than a regular pack, bidis come in bright, colored, cone-shaped packages of 20. Because of their candy-like flavors and cheap prices, 18-to 21-year-olds are the primary consumers of bidis, and younger children are getting their hands on them.
Lisa Harmon
Bambi Waltzer
Manalapan/Englishtown
Community Alliance
Manalapan