, Lecturer on Social and Behavioral Sciences
Scientists and advocates working in tobacco control have been concerned about the influence of menthol cigarettes for decades. Menthol is added to cigarettes by manufacturers to create a cooling sensation that reduces the harshness of cigarette smoke. Menthol also has bronchodilatory properties, allowing deeper penetration of smoke into the lung. The cooling sensation and reduced harshness of mentholated smoke leads consumers to perceive those cigarettes as posing a lesser health risk compared with non-mentholated cigarettes. But the truth is that by making cigarettes smoother, cooler, and easier to inhale, tobacco companies have created a product that has a higher addiction potential and is harder to quit than non-mentholated cigarettes. For example, a recent analysis of adult smokers in the FDA’s Population Assessment Tobacco and Health study found that menthol smokers had a lower probability of remaining abstinent from cigarettes com
N J residents are drinking and smoking more during the pandemic, and the proof is in Murphy s new state budget nj.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nj.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Reaching for that pack of smokes? You arenât the only one.
Tobacco sales in the U.S. have typically declined in recent decades. In 2020, they remained flat.Credit.Jeff Chiu/Associated Press
Feb. 6, 2021
Lots of people seem to be smoking again or more during the pandemic, if anecdotal evidence and preliminary sales figures for tobacco products are any measure.
âGood quality surveys operate at a lag,â said Vaughan W. Rees, the director of the Center for Global Tobacco Control at Harvard University, referring to reliable smoking studies from institutions like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. âBut we are seeing interesting blips. The decline in tobacco sales has slowed in the past 10 months.â
Some blame the pandemic for the stress and boredom that have led them to buy more cigarettes.
Credit.Chloe Pang for The New York Times
Feb. 6, 2021
Maria Neuman blames Netflix. “Last night, I blistered through seven cigarettes because I was watching a movie,” said Ms. Neuman, 51, a freelance writer who lives in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles. “It’s bad enough that I started smoking again during a pandemic. Now, I’m smoking inside.”
Milo Martin, a poet in Los Angeles, offered fewer excuses. “Being quarantined is a great opportunity to sit around and smoke,” Mr. Martin, 57, said. “It’s an existential exercise to tangibly see yourself breathing.”