As part of a plan to improve children's health, Gov. Eliot Spitzer Friday called for banning flavored or "starter" cigarettes that allegedly encourage

April 20, 2007 - As part of a plan to improve children's health, Gov. Eliot Spitzer Friday called for banning flavored or "starter" cigarettes that allegedly encourage youths to take up smoking. The move comes six months after Spitzer, as state attorney general, helped to negotiate a nationwide agreement with R.J. Reynolds, in which the tobacco giant voluntarily agreed to stop identifying cigarettes with candy, fruit, desserts or alcoholic beverage names such as "Twista Lime" and "Winter Warm Toffee." The company, however, denied marketing to children. "We got them to agree not to market and label in a way that was designed to target kids but they are still doing it," Spitzer said, referring to cigarette-makers in general. Smoking has been linked to cancer. Spitzer, a Democrat, estimated 700,000 children begin smoking each year, with 220,000 expected to die prematurely. "This is a crisis. We must take aggressive action to reduce these numbers," he told the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network. Details of the proposed ban weren't available. The anti-smoking bill is part of the freshman governor's so-called "children's agenda," which also calls for restricting the sale of violent video games to minors, and serving nutritious food in schools. (Spitzer behind effort to curb youth smoking, James Madore, Newsday.com) Can we count on the governor when the big push to go smokeless begins in full force??