Menthol Exempt From Pending Tobacco Flavoring Legislation
Menthol is Exempt From Pending Tobacco Flavoring Legislation
There is growing controversy on Capitol Hill regarding the use of menthol flavoring in cigarettes. At the heart of controversy is proposed legislation being considered that would ban cigarettes flavored with strawberry, chocolate and a number of other fruit, candy and spice flavorings.
Those flavorings have been added to cigarettes in what critics say are a lure to children. But the bill specifically protects menthol from the ban, even though menthol is the most widely used flavoring. Seven former federal health secretaries joined together Wednesday to protest menthol’s special treatment in the pending bill.
It is estimated that that 80 percent of African American teenagers who smoke pick menthol brands. Dr. Louis S. Sullivan, who was the health secretary during the administration of George H.W. Bush, said: “My issue is that menthol should not be added because it’s added as an inducement, an enabler, to encourage young people to smoke.” In 1990, Dr. Sullivan was instrumental in pressuring R.J. Reynolds not to market its Uptown cigarette, a menthol brand intended to appeal to black smokers.
The bill’s opponents contend that the omission of menthol proves that it “caves to the interests of the tobacco companies and discriminates against African Americans.”
The proposed legislation would, for the first time, give the Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate tobacco. Some groups believe the bill does not go far enough to regulate the tobacco industry but most major public health advocacy groups have endorsed it.
Source: NYT
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Wow. What has this world come to? When everything you do is now racist. Yeah alot of the african americans chose menthols more than others, but whose fault is that? Nobody says, hey you can’t buy menthol ciggerettes unless you are an african american. There are alot of caucasians that smoke menthol ciggerettes also. Just stop your bitching and let people smoke what they want to smoke, if your black or white it doesn’t matter, it’s just a COLOR! NOBODY IS DISCRIMINATING! STOP BEING SO PARANOID!!!!!