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Blumenthal Seeks To Ban Menthol Cigarettes

by Melissa Bailey | Apr 19, 2011 1:15 pm

(15) Comments | Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author

Posted to: Health Care, The Hill

Melissa Bailey Photo If Richard Blumenthal has his way, Sandeep Patel will stop selling his most popular type of cigarette, but a teen outside his Howard Avenue store pledged to keep smoking anyway.

Patel (pictured) was working Monday afternoon at Kav’s Package Store at 529 Howard Ave. in the Hill neighborhood.

Between selling and restocking 16-ounce cans of Natural Ice beer, Patel responded to a proposal from U.S. Sen. Blumenthal, who earlier that day called on the federal government to remove menthol cigarettes from the marketplace.

“If they’re going to take away menthol, then we’ve got nothing left to sell,” Patel said.

Three other Hill cigarette sellers agreed menthols are by far their most popular cigarette.

The menthol additive laced into the cigarettes is the chief component of peppermint oil. It has a refreshing minty taste, increases saliva flow, stimulates cold receptors, and increases tobacco absorption, according to the Tobacco Related Disease Research Program (TRDRP) at the University of California. Through advertising campaigns that framed menthol cigarettes as “young, hip, new and healthy,” menthol cigarette makers cornered a large part of the African-American market through culturally tailored advertising beginning in the 1960s, according to the article.

Patel said he isn’t opposed to a ban on menthol cigarettes, but it would certainly change business at his father’s shop, where he’s worked at for 14 years.

As he spoke, Patel gave the occasional glance to his TV, where his native India was about to beat the Netherlands in a rerun of the cricket World Cup. He said he doesn’t smoke, but he’s noticed that in the black and Latino neighborhood where he works, menthols are by far the smoker’s favorite.

Kav’s sells 10 cartons a week of green-labeled Newport menthol cigarettes, which go for $8.50 a pack, Patel said. The red-label “non-menthol” Newports are a dollar cheaper, but go virtually untouched, Patel said.

“I barely sell the regular ones,” he said.

Blumenthal: Menthol Hooks Kids

Blumenthal’s quest to take the Newports off Patel’s shelf comes on the heels of a report by a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee on the topic.

In a report issued last month, the Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC) concluded the “removal of menthol cigarettes from the marketplace would benefit public health in the United States.”

Based on a 2010 study, the committee found that adding menthol to cigarettes makes them taste better, and might even make smoking more addictive.

The use of menthol in cigarettes is currently not regulated by the FDA. While most cigarettes have some menthol in them, cigarettes are considered a “menthol cigarette” if they have more than 0.3 percent menthol by weight, according to the report.

In a letter Monday, Blumenthal called on the FDA to “act expeditiously to protect the public health of our nation” by following the committee’s advice and banning menthol cigarettes.

“The TPSAC found clear and compelling evidence that menthol cigarettes have an adverse impact on public health in the United States,” Blumenthal wrote in his letter, addressed to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg. “By masking the harshness of smoking, menthol cigarettes increase experimentation among youth and heighten the number of youth who transition from experimenters to become regular smokers.”

The report cites a 2010 study that found menthol cigarettes are most popular among adolescents. The study found that 44.7 percent adolescent smokers ages 12 to 17 smoke menthol cigarettes, compared to 36.1 percent of young adult smokers ages 18 to 25 years old and 30.2 percent of adult smokers over 26 years old.

Following the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act passed in 2009, the FDA now has the authority “to regulate the manufacturing, sale and marketing of tobacco products,” Blumenthal continued. He urged the agency “to use its new authority to vigorously and aggressively address the unregulated use of menthol in cigarettes.”

Blumenthal said the result will be fewer teens inhaling tobacco into their young lungs, and fewer converting into long-term smokers.

“It is well documented that the restriction of access to tobacco products directly impacts youth smoking rates,” Blumenthal wrote, “and that FDA should take strong action to prevent tobacco companies from using menthol cigarettes to increase the number of youth who smoke.”

Jerome Rumley, a 16-year-old taking puffs from a Newport menthol on his front stoop next to Kav’s Package Store, begged to differ with the study.

He said he’s been smoking since he was 11, but he wasn’t lured in by the flavor of menthol.

“I don’t really care about the taste. I just started smoking,” Jerome said. He passed the cigarette around to a 21-year-old friend and two teenage girls.

Teen Smoking: “What Can We Do?”

Jerome is prohibited by law from buying cigarettes because he’s under 18. That doesn’t stop him from smoking.

Down the street at Sam’s Food Store, assistant manager Elfatai Azeddine (pictured) worked behind the counter at one of the highest-volume cigarette sellers in the neighborhood. The store, positioned at a gas station at Howard and Kimberly Avenues, bustled Monday with people buying gas and lottery tickets and looking for air to fill their tires.

Azeddine said stores can only do so much to stop kids from smoking.

Price is one barrier.

Azeddine sells Newport menthols for $8.15 per pack including tax, which is the cheapest price on the block. That equates to 41 cents per cigarette, though Azeddine sells them only by the pack, because selling “loosies” is prohibited by state law.

Every 10 percent increase in the price of cigarettes equates to a 7 percent drop in youth smoking, according to the American Lung Association.

Identification is another barrier.

A large overhead sign reads “We Card. Please Have Your ID Ready.”

Azeddine said “a lot” of underage kids come in the store trying to buy cigarettes. “We kick them out,” he said, but they find other ways to get their smokes.

Teens may wait outside the store until they find an adult to buy a pack for them. Or they might bum a smoke from a family member or friend.

“If their parents, or their friends, get cigarettes for the kids, what can we do?” Azeddine asked. 

The store has also posted a warning, required by law: “Smoking by pregnant women may cause birth defects.” That doesn’t curb the demand.

“All kind of people, they ask for Newport menthol, Newport menthol,” Azeddine said.

He said at least 90 percent of the store’s cigarette sales are menthols. He was skeptical of Blumenthal’s proposal.

“You want to stop menthol? It’s not going to work,” he opined.

He predicted the proposal would fail because menthols bring the government so much tax revenue.

For each pack of cigarettes sold, $3 goes to the state government in the form of a cigarette tax. Another $1.01 goes to the federal government. That’s on top of the state’s 6 percent sales tax.

Sam’s Food Store sold about 50 packs of menthol cigarettes on Sunday, Azeddine said. With taxes so high, the store makes only 20 cents profit per pack, he said. Azeddine said his store typically sells $600 worth of menthol cigarettes per day, but only about one pack of Newport “regulars” per day, at a cost of $7.15.

African-Americans At Risk

Menthols’ popularity depends on the race of the smoker, according to the TPSAC report. Rates are highest in African-American adults: 71.9 percent of adolescent African-American smokers and 82.2 percent of adult African-American smokers choose menthol cigarettes. By contrast, 41.0 of white adolescent smokers and 21.9 of white adult smokers choose menthols.

African-Americans grew into the habit as the result of the tobacco industry’s “masterful manipulation of the burgeoning Black, urban, segregated, consumer market in the 1960s,” wrote Phillip S. Gardiner in the University of California article.

“The African Americanization of menthol cigarettes is no trivial matter,” he wrote, “because it is a documented fact that African American men have a
disproportionately high mortality rate from cancers of the trachea, bronchus, and lung, among other types of cancer.”

Poonam Patel, who stood behind the counter at Kimbi Deli in Kimberly Square, confirmed the reports’ findings. Menthols are “very popular” at the store, she said.

At the Kimberly Avenue store, 95 percent of cigarettes sold are menthols, she said. By contrast, a sister store near the Hamden Department of Motor Vehicles, which has more white customers, sells only 60 percent menthols, she said.

The Kimberly Square C-Town, a small supermarket specializing in Latino fare, sells a lot of menthol cigarettes, too, said assistant manager Hebe Prieto.

“If they stop selling menthols, they won’t sell any more cigarettes,” she predicted.

Back on Howard Avenue, 16-year-old Jerome disagreed.

“I don’t care” if the government bans menthols, he said. “I’ll switch to Marlboro.”

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Comments

posted by: yz on April 19, 2011  3:51pm

don’t ban ‘em; tax them!

posted by: streever on April 19, 2011  4:20pm

If menthols are banned (Good call) people will learn to like cigarettes that don’t have it.

Smoking cigarettes isn’t healthy, but at least removing menthol removes one more bad element from the cigarettes. I can’t imagine this will hurt tobacco sales or taxes—smokers like to smoke.

posted by: bring back dave chaPPELLE on April 19, 2011  6:15pm

on point, start at the 1:40 mark

http://www.pp2g.tv/vZH55a3k_.aspx

posted by: Livesinfairhaven on April 19, 2011  6:54pm

Marlboro anticipated this with “Skyline”, the almost-menthol menthols. Now that I hear this about banning menthol cigarettes it seems like a good way to to cut back and not notice so much. They were only $6.39 including tax at Walgreen’s!

posted by: Stephen on April 19, 2011  8:12pm

That’s all he’s got?

With all that’s going on the world/country/state he goes after menthol cigarettes???

I don’t smoke anymore nor do I advocate it, but really. Is that why you wanted to be a United States Senator? To go after Newports? I never liked menthol cigarettes but why not Winston or Camel’s? Nobody likes those. Ban them! Or maybe put a ban on importing those disgusting French cigarettes; they taste like the road.

Maybe something else should get his attention. How about Wall Street. Did he read Sen. Levin’s report? Maybe he should ban Goldman Sachs. How about the energy crises we are entering. Isn’t that important? Is oil too cheap? How about real health care reform. Maybe, just maybe we’re spending a little too much there as well. Or perhaps this: We’re spending about a trillion dollars on military/wars. Isn’t that too much?

Nope. Menthol cigarettes. Top priority. Good Grief!

posted by: Claudia Herrera on April 19, 2011  9:23pm

Forget the menthol cigarettes; the people who consume this product have a choice.
What is worries me is to look all the cigarettes’  advertisement that is out side of the stores, All of them are at the level of our children and very time they walk to past by, the tobacco industry and the store are “suggesting “ these products to the younger generations.

posted by: flax on April 19, 2011  10:08pm

thank you Stephen.

posted by: Joe on April 20, 2011  8:02am

I think this is a great idea.  Do I think it is liable to happen? No.  And I hope blumenthal does not alienate some of his base by making these comments.  I used to be a full time menthol smoker.  Loved the stuff, couldnt get away from it.  Everytime I would try to go over to Kamel Reds, or Marb reds it wasn’t ever the same.  I recently only switched over when I moved to CT, not being able to afford higher newport prices.  I roll my own, though unfiltered, these days.  Banning menthol would be a brilliant idea and concept.  I find it very interesting that the main arguing points for banning the menthol is that it targets young smokers, and that it “masks” the harshness of cigarettes.  That is not necesarily why we should ban menthol.  Menthol has twice the harmful effects of regular tobacco smoke.  This most definitely becomes a problem as they are indeed targeted to people of color.  The FDA has basically no regulatory oversight of tobacco ingredients, no one ‘knows’ what menthol does to you when its burned.  It is only approved because menthol has medical applications in cough medicine, salves, ointments, etc… but never burned.  Studies are starting to show it may be much more addictive than nicotine, and cause way more damage.  Ban em! but start with an educational campaign about how they are holding p.o.c. down.

posted by: Noteworthy on April 20, 2011  8:21am

More nanny-ism. More lost jobs. More lost tax revenue. What a great platform.

posted by: Dex on April 20, 2011  10:12am

I knew we sent him there to tackle the tough issues. HAHA..[...]

posted by: Joe on April 20, 2011  11:18am

love how the commentators on this article think that smoking isn’t really a big issue.  Certainly, no one gives a crap about p.o.c. either.  Hope some of these uneducated folks realize their tax dollars are being used to pay for preventable diseases cause they don’t believe public health issues affect everyone in society….

posted by: Stephen on April 20, 2011  4:00pm

I agree smoking is a big health problem, that’s why I quit. But if health is the issue here then Sen. Blumenthal should ban sugar. It’s the gateway to diabetes and heart disease, much larger problems than mentholated tobacco.

posted by: Dex on April 21, 2011  3:37pm

Wow Joe, One could not have a more confused understanding of this.  The reason our taxes go to pay for the treatment of these people is that the government decided that it should pick up the tab for everyone who cannot afford to pay which is fine.  This is a moral decision and completely disconnected from the contention that it is ok for the Government to then bootstrap itself into regulating private activity b/c it decided to pay for the health care of the poor. 

People were free to ruin their health before the gov’t decided to pay for health care and they are still free to ruin their health.  That the state has decided to step in, does in no way limit the freedom of the bonehead to destroy himself and it shouldn’t

I suppose you’d suggest that only the rich should be allowed to smoke?

posted by: westvillelocal on April 21, 2011  6:59pm

White , black, brown, green, blue, whatever… the proposal isn’t about people its about an additive that is found to lead people into a long term smoking habit.

Would tax dollar income be hurt, maybe but is the money coming in enough to cover the cost of treating that person long term for cancers and other diseases associated? probably not. To cover the public expenses due to smoking there should be a higher rate of taxes. So I’m not singling anyone out, i also believe that the tax on soda and other like drinks should be enacted. In both cases if you wanna play, you gotta pay.

At only 20 cents profit per pack how is it even viable to put so much concern into selling smokes? These stores didn’t sell loosies, since its against the law, for about as long as Melissa was there reporting.

posted by: Tom Byron on April 22, 2011  3:37pm

Good luck Blumey…what would Obama smoke if they were banned?

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