Duke researcher: Banning menthol from cigarettes will have a ‘tremendous impact’
Banning menthol from cigarettes and other flavors from cigars may be just what millions of Americans need to stop smoking and may prevent millions more from ever starting, according to a Duke University professor who studies nicotine addiction.
Dr. Joseph McClernon, founder and director of the Duke Center for Addiction Science and Technology, says the minty flavor of menthol makes smoking easier for many people.
“We know that banning the menthol in these cigarettes will make these products less appealing,” McClernon said in an interview. “It won’t mean that everyone who smokes menthol cigarettes quits smoking; there will be some people who will switch to using non-menthol cigarettes. But we do know that it will make a difference.”
Banning menthol and flavored cigars will also help prevent people from taking up smoking, McClernon said. Both types of products are particularly popular among teens and young adults, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
“If you’re a young person who is starting to smoke cigarettes, you’re going to be attracted to smoking menthol cigarettes, because, frankly, it’s just less harsh,” McClernon said. “It’s easier for you to inhale, and easier for you to smoke those cigarettes than when they do not have the menthol in them.”
The FDA has considered a ban on menthol cigarettes for years and announced Thursday that it will move forward with it. The detailed regulations are not expected until sometime next year and will almost certainly face legal challenges from the tobacco industry.
About a third of cigarettes sold in the U.S. contain menthol. In addition to young people, they are particularly popular among African Americans, after years of targeted marketing by the cigarette makers, according to the Truth Initiative, an anti-smoking group.
In Canada, where menthol cigarettes were less popular, a ban in 2017 was followed by a 10% increase in attempts to quit smoking and a decrease in relapses among people who had quit, McClernon said.
Researchers who simulated a menthol ban in the United States predicted a 15% decline in smoking within five years and a reduction of 650,000 smoking-related deaths by 2060.
The proposed FDA ban would not affect e-cigarettes, and many smokers may switch to get their nicotine fix. That’s a step in the right direction, McClernon said, because people won’t be breathing in the tar and some of the other harmful chemicals that come from burning cigarettes.
“That is not the same as breathing fresh air,” McClernon said. “But it’s certainly less harmful than smoking combusted cigarettes.”
Smoking cigarettes and cigars has become much less popular in the U.S. in recent decades. In 2020, about 12.5% of people 18 and older reported smoking cigarettes currently, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, down from more than 40% in the 1960s.
But the CDC says cigarette smoking remains the leading cause of preventable disease, disability and death, accounting for more than 480,000 deaths a year in the U.S.
This story was originally published April 28, 2022 at 5:28 PM.
