[ad_1]
For more than 60 years and continuing today, the tobacco industry has targeted Black communities, especially
children, with marketing for menthol cigarettes and other tobacco products like flavored cigars. The industry’s
predatory marketing has had a devastating impact on Black health and lives. Tobacco use is the number one cause of
preventable death among Black Americans, and tobacco-related health disparities in the Black community are largely
the result of the tobacco industry’s intentional, targeted efforts to hook generations of Black Americans to deadly
and addictive products.
This report documents the pervasive and deliberate targeting of Black communities and children with advertising and
promotions for menthol cigarettes and the resulting destructive impact menthol cigarettes have had on the health of
Black Americans. It describes the overwhelming scientific evidence showing that menthol cigarettes are even more
harmful to public health than other cigarettes – they lead to greater smoking initiation by youth and young adults,
greater addiction and reduced success in quitting smoking, with a disproportionate impact on Black Americans.
This report’s key findings include:
- For more than 60 years, the tobacco industry has deliberately targeted the Black community, especially
youth, with marketing for menthol cigarettes and other tobacco products like flavored
cigars. Since the 1950s, the tobacco industry has targeted Black Americans with pervasive
marketing of menthol cigarettes through sponsorship of community and music events, free sampling, magazine
advertising and retail promotions. The tobacco industry’s targeted marketing efforts have been horrifyingly
successful. In the 1950s, less than 10% of Black smokers used menthol cigarettes. Today, after decades of
tobacco industry targeting, that number is 85%. Menthol cigarettes continue to be heavily advertised, widely
available and priced cheaper in Black communities.The tobacco industry is using the same strategies it
used to hook generations of Black Americans on menthol cigarettes to target Black youth with marketing for
cheap, flavored cigars, some of which can be smoked like cigarettes and can cause many of the same devastating
health consequences as cigarettes. In 2020, cigars were the most commonly used tobacco product among Black high
school students. - The tobacco industry’s predatory marketing has had a devastating impact on the health of Black
Americans. Tobacco use is the number one cause of preventable death among Black Americans,
claiming 45,000 Black lives every year. Tobacco use is a major contributor to three of the leading causes of
death among Black Americans – heart disease, cancer and stroke – and Black Americans die from these conditions
at far higher rates than other Americans. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the Black
community. - Menthol cigarettes are a major reason why Black Americans suffer unfairly and disproportionately from
tobacco use. The devastating impact of tobacco use on Black Americans is no accident – it’s
the result of the tobacco industry’s long history of targeting the Black community with menthol cigarettes. The
cooling mint flavor of menthol numbs the throat and reduces the harshness of tobacco smoke, making menthol
cigarettes more appealing and easier to use for young people who are starting to smoke. As a result, menthol
cigarettes increase the number of youth and young adults who experiment with cigarettes and become regular
smokers. Young people who start smoking with menthol cigarettes are more likely to become addicted and long-term
daily smokers.Research also demonstrates that menthol cigarettes are more addictive and harder to quit,
magnifying the public health impact on Black communities. Most Black smokers want to quit smoking, and while
Black smokers are more likely than White smokers to try to quit, they are less likely to succeed. The difficulty
that Black Americans experience in quitting smoking – and consequently their higher rates of tobacco-related
disease and death – are due, in part, to their greater use of menthol cigarettes. - Strong action is needed to protect health and save lives. To protect the health of Black
Americans and address health disparities, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) must quickly finalize and
implement its proposed rules prohibiting menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars. The FDA announced the
proposed rules in April 2022.Comprehensive scientific reviews by the FDA’s Tobacco Products Scientific
Advisory Committee (TPSAC) in 2011 and the FDA itself in 2013 found that menthol cigarettes cause substantial
harm to public health beyond that caused by other cigarettes. TPSAC concluded, “Removal of menthol cigarettes
from the marketplace would benefit public health in the United States.” In 2018, then-FDA Commissioner Scott
Gottlieb announced the agency’s intention to initiate rulemaking to ban menthol in cigarettes and other
combustible tobacco products, stating that menthol cigarettes “represent one of the most common and pernicious
routes by which kids initiate on combustible cigarettes” and “exacerbate troubling disparities in health related
to race and socioeconomic status.”
Slideshow: How Big Tobacco Targets Black Americans
Until the FDA acts, cities and states should continue their growing efforts to prohibit the sale of all flavored
tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes. To date, two states – Massachusetts and California – and dozens of
localities have adopted prohibitions on flavored tobacco products that include menthol cigarettes.
To help more smokers quit, it is also critical to expand the availability and promotion of smoking cessation
services, especially in medically underserved communities. These efforts should also include a national public
education campaign that provides information about where to get help quitting and is targeted to populations
disproportionately impacted by tobacco use.
These actions will protect kids from tobacco addiction, advance health equity and save lives, especially among Black
Americans.
Last Updated Feb. 21, 2023.
[ad_2]
Source link
