Spread Of Menthol Cigarettes Among Young People

Spread Of Menthol Cigarettes Among Young People.
The engagement over menthol-flavored cigarettes heats up again Thursday as a US Food and Drug Administration warning panel continues a series of hearings on whether to debar the cigarettes. The FDA's Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee consists of nine members and includes doctors, scientists and notorious fettle experts. The tobacco industry is represented by three non-voting members. The body has until next March to report its menthol findings to the US Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Much of the argumentation centers on research that shows that children are particularly drawn to menthol cigarettes, with nearly 45 percent of smokers superannuated 12 to 17 using them, according to a 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Most unprincipled teenaged smokers - and 82,7 percent of black full-grown smokers - favor menthols, the same survey found. "The manufacturers would have you believe there is not a scintilla of demonstrate that menthol is more dangerous than other cigarettes to the individual smoker, but we do not agree," said Ellen Vargyas, habitual counsel for the American Legacy Foundation, a smoking prevention and cessation organization in Washington, DC, founded with funding from the watershed 1998 Master Settlement Agreement between the tobacco enterprise and state governments.

And "Over 80 percent of African-American smokers smoke menthol, and African-American smokers have the highest rates of lung cancer. We also distinguish African-Americans with lung cancer are more apt to to die from lung cancer," she told HealthDay. In addition, the popularity of menthols among younger, newer smokers suggests that maybe the minty taste does encourage subjects to start, perhaps by masking the harsh taste of regular cigarettes. "We know the younger you are and the newer the smoker you are, the more expected you are to smoke menthol. There is a very strong correlation between being a teenaged smoker and menthol cigarettes".

That's no coincidence, for example smoking opponents: The tobacco earnestness has long targeted youth and minorities for menthol cigarette marketing, even manipulating menthol import in different brands in an effort to recruit new smokers among youth, according to the US National Cancer Institute and the Harvard School of Public Health. The contend over how menthols should be regulated was endure discussed in July, during the second round of hearings held by the tobacco products advisory committee.