With their enticing cool and minty flavor, menthol cigarettes have emerged as one of the most controversial products made by the tobacco industry. Kids are particularly drawn to them, with nearly 45 percent of smokers aged 12 to 17 using menthol cigarettes, according to a 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Most black teenaged smokers — and 82.7 percent of black adult smokers — favor menthols, the same survey found.
“The manufacturers would have you believe there is not a scintilla of evidence that menthol is no more dangerous than other cigarettes to the individual smoker, but we do not agree,” said Ellen Vargyas, general counsel for the American Legacy Foundation, a smoking prevention and cessation organization in Washington, D.C., founded with funding from the landmark Master Settlement Agreement between the tobacco industry and state governments. “Over 80 percent of African-American smokers smoke menthol, and African-America smokers have the highest rates of lung cancer. We also know African-Americans with lung cancer are more likely to die from lung cancer.”
In addition, the popularity of menthols among younger, newer smokers suggests that maybe the minty taste does encourage people to start, perhaps by masking the harsh taste of regular cigarettes, she added.
“We know the younger you are and the newer the smoker you are, the more likely you are to smoke menthol,” said Vargyas. “There is a very strong correlation between being a teenaged smoker and menthol cigarettes.”
That’s no coincidence, say smoking opponents: The tobacco industry has long targeted youth and minorities for menthol cigarette marketing, even manipulating menthol content in different brands in an effort to recruit new smokers among youth, according to the National Cancer Institute and the Harvard School of Public Health.
The debate over how menthols should be regulated lit up again last month, during the second round of hearings held by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee. Read more in APP.
what do you have against black people?
“minty taste does encourage people to start, ” – actually it hurts/hits harder and it scares most people from ever trying it again.
“Over 80 percent of African-American smokers smoke menthol,” – so because blacks have a fad of smoking newports, that means i cant enjoy my marlboro menthol lights?
they should ban them all, they are a public hazard.
Menthols are a great weakness for me. If they’re out of the picture (for the most part) I will have less temptation to go off the wagon. (It’s been 5 months since my last cigarette, and I struggle every day.)
1 and 2 you missed the boat. if we are trying to find out the effects of menthol cigarettes, the simplest way is to monitor a group of people who smoke menthol. it happens to be a high percentage of black smokers smoke menthol. that makes them perfect candidates for monitoring, and if they have a higher cancer rate than other smokers, one possibility is definitely the fact that they smoke menthol. that’s all.
all these studies are funded by marlboro to try to get rid
of newport and are not true
#6 what research do you have to back up your claim?