US FDA Proposes Mentol Cigarette Ban

It is widely known that cigarettes are harmful to health. Menthol cigarettes actually cause a greater health risk and are more difficult to stop than usual. Recently, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) submitted a proposal to implement a ban on menthol cigarettes nationally.

According to the FDA, the adverse effects of menthol cigarettes on public health, confirmed in 2013, are likely to be associated with increased smoking initiation by adolescents and young adults. The reason, maybe because menthol helps reduce throat irritation caused by cigarette smoke.

While the tobacco industry rejects the FDA's findings, the proposal to ban menthol cigarettes has long been awaited by supporters of public health. Quoted from the Indian Express, supporters of a healthy lifestyle have been very concerned about the high percentage of African-Americans who are addicted to menthol cigarettes.

Data noted, menthol smokers from African American races were three times the number compared to white smokers. But there is little information about the health effects of menthol cigarettes compared to non-menthol cigarettes.

Although there are many research articles that point to menthol as a factor that might contribute to some of the health effects of smoking, the majority do not investigate menthol as an independent factor and instead focus on racial or ethnic differences used, said a paper published in the National Biotechnology Information Center at year 2011.

The ban on menthol cigarettes may take a long time to finally succeed in a goal Moreover, restrictions on menthol cigarettes require FDA regulatory processes. Until now there has been no major tobacco company that has commented on the proposed ban on menthol cigarettes.