With St. Patrick's Day past us, we are still seeing green in the news. Its the color of menthol cigarettes. According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the use of menthol cigarettes is rising among youth and is "very high" among minority adolescents.
A recommendation could be coming from the Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee about whether menthol flavoring should be banned. The panel's report is due March 23rd.
About 30% of total cigarettes sales come from menthol cigarettes in the United States. Newport brand cigarettes, made by Lorillard Inc, has 90% of company's sales coming from menthol cigarettes.
The tobacco industry claims there is no evidence that menthol in cigarettes makes them more appealing then regular cigarettes.
Some alarming stats involving menthol cigarettes show that 80% of African-American adolescent smokers and more than 50% of Hispanic smokers ages 12-17 use menthol cigarettes.
To see the full article, http://www.actiontoquit.org/news/menthol-cigarettes-attract-more-teens/
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