Menthol cigarettes are bad for your health. FDA right to propose a ban
Take a deep breath, America. We’ve made serious progress against cigarette smoking. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 23% of adults were smokers in 2000. By 2020, the rate had fallen to 12.5%. Teen use of traditional cigarettes has plummeted from 22.5% in 2002 to 6% in 2019, according to the American Lung Association.
And yet we have a long way to go, in part because the popularity of vaping has led to an overall increase in use of tobac- co products. A 2021 survey found that 11.3% of high school students said they currently used e-cigarettes; of those, more than a quarter vaped daily. And yes, e-cigarettes don’t have the smoke associated with lung cancer, but they contain a batch of harmful chemicals that can cause breathing problems and other health issues. Not to men- tion that they hook young people on nicotine, which then opens the door to cigarettes.
It’s probably not a coincidence that in 2009, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned most kinds of flavored cigarettes, those that taste of candy or fruit and lured teens into smoking. It would take 12 more years for the FDA to announce a similar but partial ban on flavored e-cigarettes while it continues to consider whether vaping products should be banned altogether.
MENTHOL POPULAR
But there’s one flavor that has remained untouched, at least until now. After more than a decade of consideration, the FDA is proposing to ban menthol ciga- rettes and cigars (and is taking public comments on this plan until July 5). Menthol has long been the most common and popular flavoring for tobacco products.
Menthol has a minty taste that softens the harshness of cigarette smoke, making it easier to start — and, some studies indicate, har
der to quit. It also is especially marketed to communities of color, so it should be no surprise that 48% of adult Latino smokers and 85% of Black smokers use menthol tobacco products, compared with 30% for white smokers, according to the CDC.
Of course, adults are entitled to make their own decisions — even very bad decisions — about whether to smoke. Banning menthol, considering its effect on Black communities, is a double-edged sword. Tobacco com- panies have targeted vulnerable populations with marketing, causing disproportionate harm.
Black people smoke at somewhat higher rates than white people. But banning menthol could be seen as biased and patronizing, with the government telling Black adults that they no longer have access to the kind of smokes they like, while most white people get to continue with their chosen form of cigarettes.
ATTRACTIVE TO TEENS
But the debate ends with the irrefutable fact that menthol is a gateway to smoking and it wors- ens the rate of smoking overall. According to the anti-tobacco group Truth Initiative, the percentage of smokers who choose menthol rose steadily from 2008 to 2018. And young smokers — teens and young adults — are significantly more likely to choose menthol than regular cigarettes.
A 2020 study found that from 2011 to 2018, use of menthol among young cigarette smokers dropped from 57.3% to 45.7%. But the numbers didn’t change at all for young Black and Latino smokers, the ones most likely to choose menthol in the first place.
The menthol ban is the right way to go — except that it doesn’t go nearly far enough. Menthol e-cigarettes are not included, even though the FDA banned cartridge-based vaping with candy and fruit flavors in 2020.
Our society does have the right and duty to take steps to protect kids and young adults from tremendous harm, as the federal government did in 2019 when it raised the smoking age from 18 to 21. Considering how difficult it is to stop smoking — fewer than one in 10 who try to quit are successful — prevention is the best way to bring down this deadly addiction.