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• African American Leaders Call on Tobacco Industry to Stop Targeting Their Community 

Today African American leaders in California called on the tobacco industry to stop targeting their community with the promotion of menthol cigarettes and deceptive advertising. Menthol cigarettes are not more toxic than regular cigarettes, but the minty flavor and cooling sensation makes them more enticing and easier to smoke, paving the road to nicotine addiction. Seventy percent of African American smokers prefer to smoke menthol cigarettes, compared to thirty percent of White smokers.

"We're here today to say enough is enough," said Sharon Eubanks, the former government prosecutor who led the landmark 2005 lawsuit against tobacco companies. "The tobacco industry has been targeting the African American community for decades with deceptive ads and pushing menthol cigarettes that have an anesthetic quality. These cigarettes are harder to quit and make it easier for youth to take up smoking."

Convening in Leimert Park, a historic gathering place for Los Angeles' African American community, tobacco control activists showcased a selection of historical ads created by the tobacco industry to entice African Americans to smoke and highlighted data about the disastrous health effects in the Black community that are attributable to tobacco use.

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