Published May 31. 2021 12:01AM
Lisa Lacasse
Tobacco addiction is not a choice. Research shows nearly 70% of people who smoke want to quit and about half of people who smoke make a quit attempt every year. The tobacco industry knows it must keep customers addicted, and companies use insidious approaches to maintain a customer base. Menthol and flavors have played a major role in the addiction equation.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration made a crucial step forward when it announced it will begin the process to prohibit menthol flavoring in cigarettes and all flavors in cigars. Once finalized and implemented, this long-overdue action will help reduce youth tobacco initiation, help adults quit and reduce tobacco-related cancers, as well as combat Big Tobacco’s long targeting of Black communities.
Earlier this month, the Biden administration announced its intent to ban the sale of menthol flavored cigarettes. If finalized, public health experts and anti-tobacco advocates believe this would be a big step forward in tobacco regulation and could help address health disparities experienced by com
, 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
Biden Administration Pushes for Science-Informed Ban on Menthol Cigarettes
Casey Kalman, Research Associate, Center for Science and Democracy | May 11, 2021, 2:43 pm EDT
Earlier this month, the Biden administration announced its intent to ban the sale of menthol flavored cigarettes. If finalized, public health experts and anti-tobacco advocates believe this would be a big step forward in tobacco regulation and could help address health disparities experienced by communities of color.
The harms caused by flavored cigarettes, including menthol, have been known for decades as they increase the likelihood that someone will start smoking, especially for teens. Menthol is a flavor derived from mint plants or developed in a lab that has a cooling, soothing affect that reduces the harshness of smoking. Not only has menthol been known to make it easier to start smoking but also can make it more difficult to quit.