Cloves and Beedies

[muffinman]

I went to “Smoke & Snuff” yesterday at the Governor’s Square Mall here in Tallahassee. Upon asking for Beedies, I was told that the state of Florida has banned the import of Cloves and Beedies. Does anyone else know anything about this? I asked if you could get them in Georgia, and was told that people come down from GA to buy them in FL. I then went to a different nearby tobacco shop, and while the clerk had heard nothing about it, he said that they were closing within several months.

Any clue what’s going on?

[Chas.E]

1. It’s “bidis” not “beedees.”
2. They’re probably banned due to the vast majority of Bidis being made by child labor at slave wages. This was all detailed in a CBS 60 Minutes expose.
3. Hi Opal!

[Duck_Duck_Goose]

Well, huh.

http://www.cbsnews.com/now/story/0,1597,71386-412,00.shtml

November 1999 Report
The cigarettes are known as “bidis.” They are now hip among young people in the United States. Sometimes they are sweetened, with flavors such as chocolate, even bubble gum.

They’re also cheap, because they are hand rolled by kids who are tobacco slaves, children sold into bonded servitude. It is illegal to import goods into the United States that are made by bonded child labor. But until now, the U.S. Customs Service never had the evidence to make a case.

<snip>
60 Minutes II showed some of its footage to Customs Commissioner Kelly, who said that the pictures provided enough evidence to legally bar imports of Mangalore Ganesh cigarettes into the United States.

<snip>
August 2000 Update

Soon after the 60 Minutes II report first aired in the fall of 1999, the U.S. Customs Service banned the import of bidis made by Mangalore Ganesh.

And an Indian court heard the cases of Shamshad, Shurmitbonu and Karmela. All have been granted their freedom.

http://no-smoking.org/dec99/12-06-99-1.html

BusinessWire [12/03/99]

The Attorneys General unanimously signed letters to Health and Human Services Secretary Donna E. Shalala, the Federal Trade Commission, U.S. Customs Service Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, and the Chairs of several Congressional committees detailing the dangers posed to American youth by bidis and the possibility that the manufacture of bidis involves indentured children’s labor.

On November 24, the U.S. Customs Service banned the importation of Mangalore Ganesh Bidis upon receipt of evidence that indentured children’s labor produced the bidis.

I suppose that you’ve still been able to buy them since December of 1999 because they’re probably allowed to sell their remaining stocks. But now I suppose the supply is exhausted and they’re not allowed to import any more.