Posted on 05/13/2008 6:07:58 PM PDT by Libloather
Cigarette Bill Treats Menthol With Leniency
By STEPHANIE SAUL
Published: May 13, 2008
Some public health experts are questioning why menthol, the most widely used cigarette flavoring and the most popular cigarette choice of African-American smokers, is receiving special protection as Congress tries to regulate tobacco for the first time.
The legislation, which would give the Food and Drug Administration the power to oversee tobacco products, would try to reduce smoking’s allure to young people by banning most flavored cigarettes, including clove and cinnamon.
But those new strictures would exempt menthol — even though menthol masks the harsh taste of cigarettes for beginners and may make it harder for the addicted to kick the smoking habit. For years, public health authorities have worried that menthol might be a factor in high cancer rates in African-Americans.
The reason menthol is seen as politically off limits, despite those concerns, is that mentholated brands are so crucial to the American cigarette industry. They make up more than one-fourth of the $70 billion American cigarette market and are becoming increasingly important to the industry leader, Philip Morris USA, without whose lobbying support the legislation might have no chance of passage.
“I would have been in favor of banning menthol,” said Senator Judd Gregg, Republican of New Hampshire, who supports the bill. “But as a practical matter that simply wasn’t doable.”
Even the head of the National African American Tobacco Prevention Network, a nonprofit group that has been adamantly against menthol, acknowledges that the ingredient needed to be off the bargaining table — for now — because he does not want to imperil the bill’s chances.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
If this is Congress's first foray into tobacco regulation, then why has BATFE had a "t" in it for decades?
Personally I like cigarette smokers. The more they smoke, the less taxes I have to pay. Since it’s a free choice to smoke, we should not be punishing people who choose that activity by taxing them excessively. They are filling the government coffers everytime they buy a pack.
“Minorities most affected”....
Taxes?
barbra ann
Don’t be messin’ wit muh squares dawg!
Yummmmmy. Havent had any cloves in ages but just the mention of them makes my mouth water.
Blinding Flash of the Obvious: tobacco actually tastes really good.
Clove and tobacco whooo boy is that a great treat after a meal. Ok so the talk of banning them makes me want to go out and buy a few cartons and put them in the freezer. Maybe never smoke them but just the same to be on the safe side.
Dopey Nanny State Ninnies.
we also die earlier than non-smokers. i’m also doing my part to save YOUR social security, since you might live to be 90, and i probably will not.
mmmmm. All this talk of cloves is making me want one. I guess I’ll go do that.
Gives me a bottle of bumpy face and a pack o what I is..
That is why one former public health official says the legislation’s menthol exemption is a “cave-in to the industry,”
BS. It was a cave-in by legislators terrified of being called racists for prohibiting a substance used mostly by blacks.
Blacks have been viciously exploited/murdered for profit by the democrat party forever.
40% of babies murdered with federal funds are black. The disgraceful inner sh*tty public schools are run by democrat party controlled crooked teachers unions. Blacks are kept smoking to provide revenue for Congress.
etc, etc, etc.
Next the Democrats will go after Colt45 and Mad Dog.
WTF is my "Republican" Senator doing supporting this ban? What's next, menthol cough drops?
In 2006, New Hampshire's population was 1.1% black. It's not like he's the guardian of the oppressed black underclass. Doesn't he have better things to do?
But you don't die fast enough! Medicine has far too many options to keep poor smokers alive for years longer than they used to--all at taxpayer (Medicaid) expense.
Wasn’t there a European study which revealed that the lifetime medical bills of a non-smoker were significantly higher than those of a smoker because the average smoker died so much earlier?
Or it's the evil white man wanting to see more blacks pay taxes and die from cigarettes. Yes, the same evil white man who invented aids to kill blacks. / ReverendWright
neither do you. just wait for that social security check in ten years that may never come. :)
i believe that was in sweden.
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