Jump to full article: Huffington Post (blog), 2009-06-12
Author: Jason Linkins
Intro: As it turns out, this would be one of those occasions when the New York Times might consider reading their own paper. Stephanie Saul, reporting last year, wrote a pair of articles that take on this matter head on.
'Cigarette Bill Treats Menthol With Leniency,' May 13, 2008:
Some public health experts are questioning why menthol, the most widely used cigarette flavoring and the most popular cigarette choice of African-American smokers, is receiving special protection as Congress tries to regulate tobacco for the first time.
The legislation, which would give the Food and Drug Administration the power to oversee tobacco products, would try to reduce smoking's allure to young people by banning most flavored cigarettes, including clove and cinnamon.
But those new strictures would exempt menthol -- even though menthol masks the harsh taste of cigarettes for beginners and may make it harder for the addicted to kick the smoking habit. For years, public health authorities have worried that menthol might be a factor in high cancer rates in African-Americans.
The reason menthol is seen as politically off limits, despite those concerns, is that mentholated brands are so crucial to the American cigarette industry. . . .
No matter the effect on public health, you wouldn't want to make Perfect the Enemy of Good, right? Despairingly, this is the attitude echoed by William Robinson, the head of the National African American Tobacco Prevention Network, who, in Saul's article, says: "The bottom line is we want the legislation...But we want to reserve the right to address this issue at some critical point because of the percentage of people of African descent who use mentholated products."
And it is a critical point, that Saul touched on in July's New York Times, in an article titled "Black Caucus Seeks Limits on Menthol Cigarettes": . . .
As Altria's competitors have repeatedly argued in opposing the legislation, Altria stands to retain more market share if the advertising crackdown makes it harder for other companies to improve their sales standing.
Oh, well. At least the black community can count on the Congress to revisit the issue, and perhaps decide at a later date that menthol should be treated like any other tobacco flavoring, right?
Actually, it's not even clear that the bill, as passed, will survive! Check out how Altria/Philip Morris -- good corporate citizen and risk reducer -- looms over a potential threat to the bill they so kindly helped to shepherd through.
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