A U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panel has advised the FDA that the tobacco industry is marketing menthol cigarettes in a way that allows them to be perceived as healthier than other cigarette options.
Menthol cigarettes are now known to be no healthier than any other type of cigarette or tobacco product, but the report has revealed that they are being marketed in that light. Ream more »
Phillip Gardiner started smoking after he quit his college basketball team. He soon switched from Winstons, then the country’s topselling brand, to Kool menthols.
“It was cool to smoke Kools,” Gardiner explains.
Over the more than 40 years since Gardiner – who is black – opted for Kools, menthol cigarettes have become increasingly popular with African-American smokers.
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The use of menthol cigarettes is rising among adolescents and is “very high” among minority youth, a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel said in partial draft report released Monday.
The Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee could make a recommendation about whether menthol flavoring should be banned. The panel’s report is due next week.
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Public health advocates have squared off against retail business owners over a Senate bill that would ban the sale of some flavored tobacco products. Advocates say flavored tobacco is a means of hooking young smokers.
Washington tobacco retailers argue that they have enough regulations to cope with and that the state should focus on existing laws that prohibit anyone under the age of 18 from buying tobacco. They say a ban on flavored tobacco will cripple their businesses. Ream more »
Lawmakers in Olympia have proposed a ban on flavored tobacco products, but barring such items could cost the state millions of dollars.
Bills in the House and Senate would ban flavored tobacco products such as cigarillos, and smokeless tobacco products like pouches, pills or capsules.
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Come March, the FDA will decide whether tobacco companies can continue marketing menthol cigarettes. Thousands of advertisers who have a separate ethnic marketing strategies for any product that has health implications should be watching closely. So listen up, folks with ties to food, alcohol, soda, diet supplements and pharmaceuticals: There but for the grace of the federal government go you.
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Just in time for New Year’s resolutions, a new poster promoting smoking as a glamorous, sexy, lifestyle choice. Showing a svelte woman in a party dress, the poster for Vogue cigarettes was distributed to provincial tobacco retailers and depicts smoking as something trendy done by beautiful people, an anti-smoking coalition said yesterday.
“You can’t get more ‘lifestyle’ than the popular fashion magazine, Vogue,” said Flory Doucas of the Coalition quebecoise pour le controle du tabac. Ream more »
Tobacco manufacturers are constantly finding creative ways to market their products to customers. But critics claim their latest creation, smokeless candy-flavored tobacco products, are specifically targeting teenagers. And Holmes County ranks second highest in the state in the number of teenagers who use it. Holmes County Health Department Tobacco Prevention Coordinator Christopher Lauen says “they commonly think that smokeless, not being cigarettes or cigars, it’s somehow healthier and in many times, they think it tastes better, it looks better, it must be better for you.” Ream more »
Santa Claus took a break from his holiday duties Monday to teach children at the Sandy Club about the dangers of “sweetened” tobacco products.
To prove the point, representatives of the Utah Department of Health and the Salt Lake Valley Health Department staged a “smell test” to demonstrate how flavored cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products have been manufactured to smell like candy — and encourage youths to use them.
“The guys who sell cigarettes are sneaky, sneaky guys. They want to trick kids and teenagers into buying cigarettes,” Santa said.
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The longest Samuel Johnson has ever been able to give up menthol cigarettes is three months. Every time he tries to quit, he said, that cool, minty flavor that first drew him and other African-American smokers to menthols lures him back. “Everybody has a habit and mine is smoking cigarettes,” said Johnson, 20, standing outside Harold Washington College downtown between classes with other young students, many of them puffing on menthols. Ream more »