Ban menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars — that’s what health advocates want the Food and Drug Administration to do, and they’re choosing Black History Month to urge the FDA to act. Carol McGruder is co-chair of the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council.
“Menthol is an analgesic, it numbs the throat, so it lets the poison go down easier. It dilates the alveoli in the lungs, the little sacs in your lungs and so it allows the toxins to stay longer and deeper in the lungs,” she said.
The FDA issued draft regulations to ban menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars in April 2022, and it is expected to issue final regulations later this year.
The tobacco industry has long targeted the Black community with ads for menthol cigarettes. Health advocates say it’s time to stop.
The FDA has found that menthol makes cigarettes more addictive and makes it easier for kids to start smoking.
Lincoln Mondy made a documentary called Black Lives/Black Lungs about the marketing of menthol cigarettes.
“We say predatory because it was indeed predatory, they went in neighborhoods like Detroit and New York and majority Black neighborhoods and gave out free cigarettes, they just handed out free cigarettes, they drove up in Newport vans and Kool vans and handed out free cigarettes,” he said.
As a result, 85% of Black smokers now smoke menthol cigarettes, compared to less than 10% in the 1950s.
California passed a law almost three years ago banning flavored tobacco products. The industry through a referendum put the issue to voters in November. They upheld the ban but McGruder says cigarette makers persist.
“They’ve already introduced new products that have some chemicals in there that mimic menthol but they’re not menthol and they’re actually on the market right now in California and so now we have to deal with that, and so, the industry will never stop, they are going to continue to recruit their new smokers to replace the folks who are dying,” she said.
As a result of menthol cigarettes being marketed to Blacks, they have a harder time quitting smoking and are more likely to die from tobacco-related diseases like lung cancer, heart disease and stroke.