Jump to full article: Chattanooga (TN) Times & Free Press, 2010-06-18
Author: Emily Bregel
Intro: Riverbend organizers are dismissing complaints from local health officials that tobacco vendors could be violating a federal settlement that prohibits marketing tobacco products to children.
Camel, USA Gold and Longhorn smokeless tobacco vendors are providing free samples to Riverbend patrons of legal age, said Chip Baker, executive director of Friends of the Festival.
PDF: Open letter to Chip Baker
“They are absolutely in compliance,” he said.
Leaders of the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Health Council and the county Health Department sent Mr. Baker a letter Thursday, urging organizers to make the festival a smoke-free event.
Health officials said they are concerned that the vendors’ presence at a family-oriented event could violate the 1998 multistate master settlement agreement, which bans marketing of tobacco products to people under 18.
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