it’s a way for Big Tobacco to attract and addict new smokers.
Menthol is not JUST a flavor,
The tobacco industry continues to recruit youth and young adults as new consumers of their products. After all, that’s the only way any business - especially one whose products, when used as directed kill half of its users - can sustain success and grow. One way the tobacco industry has sought to expand their customer base is through flavored tobacco products, particularly menthol, which creates a cooling sensation in the airways that makes tobacco use easier to start and harder to quit.
Big Tobacco doesn’t care where its customers come from, but historically they have focused marketing and promotion of menthol cigarettes and other menthol tobacco products on African American communities. They use images and messages specific to Black culture and flood Black neighborhoods with menthol products and price them cheaper to make them more affordable.
The results are not merely unjust — they are deadly.
Smoking-related illnesses, including heart attack and stroke, are the No. 1 cause of death among African Americans. Overall, 86% of Black smokers use menthol cigarettes, compared to 29% of Whites. Ninety-three percent of Black smokers started by using menthol cigarettes , and 7 out of 10 Black youths ages 12 to 17 who smoke use menthol cigarettes . And while African Americans tend to smoke less than Whites, they are more likely to die from it.
Tobacco companies typically market menthol cigarettes as “smoother” than others, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has actually found that they are a greater risk to public health than non-menthol cigarettes. The flavor can lead to deeper and harder inhalation, increasing the intake of nicotine and tar, and the minty taste and smell can mask early symptoms of illness and disease.
African American Youth.
Ages 12-17 Years, Who Smoke
Use Menthol Cigarettes
OVER 7 10
OUT
OF
A scare tactic the tobacco industry pays its spokespersons to use, to strike fear in the Black community, is that any ban of menthol or other flavored tobacco products would create an illicit market for these products and make Black Americans bigger targets for unjust criminalization. But the data doesn’t back that up. In fact, recent research shows that after Canada banned menthol, there was no increase in illicit purchases of menthol cigarettes.
Further, a menthol ban BANS THE MANUFACTURE and RETAIL SALE of menthol tobacco products. There are NO Penalties or law enforcement for INDIVIDUALs who purchase, possess, or use menthol products.
Smoking-related illnesses are the
in the African American community.
#1 cause of death
93% of Black smokers started by
using menthol cigarettes.
Menthol products are given more shelf space in retail outlets within African American and other minority neighborhoods.
Black smokers smoke less but die of heart attacks, strokes and other causes linked to tobacco use at higher rates than white smokers do.
The tobacco industry created a narrative that communities of color CHOOSE menthol tobacco products and that taking them off the market would be an injustice. WRONG!! The truth is that Big Tobacco has TARGETED communities of color for decades, flooding these neighborhood communities with advertising and cheap products in a focused effort to make profits while creating generations of life-long nicotine addicts. And the impact to these communities has had devastating health consequences.
Help us fight this injustICe at NotJustMenthol.org
Join the conversation on social!
@tobaccofreenys
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Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. “Tobacco Use Among African Americans,” https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/assets/factsheets/0006.pdf, 2021.
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Truth Initiative, “Menthol,” fact sheet, https://truthinitiative.org/sites/default/files/media/files/2019/03/truth-initiative-menthol-fact-sheet-dec2018.pdf, 2018.
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Center for Disease Control and Prevention. “African Americans and Tobacco Use,” https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/disparities/african-americans/index.htm, updated November 16, 2020.
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Center for Disease Control and Prevention. “Menthol and Cigarettes,” https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/tobacco_industry/menthol-cigarettes/index.html, updated May 18, 2020.
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http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/reports/50-years-of-progress/
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files/2019/03/truth-initiative-menthol-fact-sheet-dec2018.pdf, 2018.
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