Menthol Country: Come to Where the Flavor is

André Stanley

ATOD Section Governing Councilor and Awards Chair

New research published in the May 2011 edition of the American Journal of Public Health cites several studies that provide specific evidence that menthol cigarettes have adverse health effects on African American smokers.  The research concludes that there is substantial public support for the removal of mentholated cigarettes from the U.S. market, an action the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is presently considering.

For decades the tobacco industry heavily marketed menthol cigarettes to minorities, and as a result, the menthol smoking rates among minorities are disproportionately high (80 percent of African American smokers now smoke menthol cigarettes). African Americans are further disadvantaged because though more menthol smokers try to stop, fewer are successful at quitting, especially African Americans. The most effective way to tackle this appalling figure is to reduce the number of people who begin smoking in the first place. A ban on menthol cigarettes would effectively do just that. 

“With the momentum of this new research and public support for a ban on menthol, now is the time for the FDA to finally act on this important issue. Tobacco is not an equal opportunity killer, and the link between menthol smoking and African Americans cannot be overemphasized, nor can it be overlooked,” said Dr. David Abrams senior author of the aforementioned studies.

Menthol is derived from the peppermint plant and provides a minty flavor and cooling sensation in cigarettes, covering up the tobacco taste and reducing the throat irritation associated with smoking.  Therefore, menthols lure young people into taking up a deadly addition. Newer and younger smokers use menthol cigarettes at dramatically higher rates than older, established smokers.

Menthols have long been marketed as having medicinal benefits.  The earliest ads encouraged smokers to switch to a menthol brand to “combat a cough.”  The truth is that there is no evidence that menthol cigarettes are safer than any other cigarette. The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, enacted in 2009, bans flavoring cigarettes with any herb or spice, or strawberry, grape, orange, clove, cinnamon, pineapple, vanilla, coconut, licorice, cocoa, chocolate, cherry or coffee flavor – except for menthol. The reason for this, of course, is because of the influence of the tobacco industry.

If a menthol ban goes into effect, researchers project conservatively that 340,000 deaths will be averted from 2011 to 2050, a third of them among African Americans. Data also show that more than half of all Americans support a ban on menthol, with greater support among African Americans. So let’s keep the pressure on Congress and get menthol cigarettes out of the U.S. market.

The studies were commissioned by the American Legacy Foundation and published in AJPH.