Sunday, August 23, 2009

Menthol Cigarettes: Smooth and Dangerous?

When the House of Representatives passed a pioneering bill last month to give the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate tobacco products, one of the most contentious issues it faced, whether as to prohibit the use of menthol flavoring in cigarettes.

House punted, his bill directed federal health authorities for rapid assessment of public health impact of menthol cigarettes. With millions of Americans currently smoking menthol cigarettes, the question must be answered quickly.

There is ample reason to suspect that menthol may be harmful to many smokers and disproportionately harmful to black Americans. Menthol cigarettes have been on the market aggressively to African-Americans and more than 70 percent of black smokers in this country prefer mint menthol brands, compared with 25 percent to 30 percent of white Americans.

Seven former federal secretaries of health and Afro-American anti-smoking advocates called for an outright ban. But the evidence is not yet conclusive.

Menthol was added to cigarettes for decades in order to enhance the attractiveness of smoking. It acts as a mild local anesthetic, and gives the sensation of coolness in the mouth, throat and lungs. Menthol may not be dangerous in its own right, but some scientists believe that it could further damage caused by other toxic components of tobacco smoke or may encourage smokers inhale more deeply, increasing their exposure to carcinogens.

The main task is the fact that menthol, by reducing the discomfort of smoking, apparently to make it easier for the tobacco industry to lure new smokers and keep chronic smokers to quit. The new document says scientists from Harvard, based on internal industry documents that tobacco companies have manipulated menthol only for this purpose.

Racial elements makes the problem particularly flammable. Some experts worry that menthol cigarettes may be one reason why blacks suffer from some tobacco-related diseases. Recent studies, however, found no significant difference in the risk of disease for smokers who use mentholated cigarettes and those who do not.

The bill, approved by the House ban tobacco companies use a variety of fruits and sweets taste in the apparent exempting menthol. With the release of a feature of the legislation on tobacco control in the past five years. Proponents of regulation of tobacco came to the conclusion that menthol so crucial to the industry, and prefers to so many smokers that proposing a ban could scuttle any chances for tobacco regulation.

The Senate should follow the House lead and give the FDA regulatory control over tobacco. Then F.D.A. should move as quickly as possible to determine the effects of menthol and what should be done to regulate or prohibit. Americans should know once and for all, regardless of whether menthol makes cigarettes even deadly.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Cigarettes replace drinking

In Europe, a new substitute for cigarettes - after the electronic devices and smokeless nicotine patches to smokers would replace cigarette special dinner drink. The Dutch company Unined Drinks and Beauty Corporation has released a "liquid cigarette". According to the Dutch, the drink is the same feeling as after smoking - a light and refreshing effect eyforicheskie sense of calm.

In the "liquid cigarettes" no nicotine, but there is a mysterious African plant extracts. Bank of the drink, which will appear in European stores in late December, will cost about 3 euro.

Anti-organization of ASH have already expressed fears that the "liquid cigarettes" almost nothing is known, and no clinical trials, without which you can not know whether the drink is safe and is not addictive, says Sky News.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Cigarettes may be sold 'under the counter'

Cigarettes may have to be sold under the counter as part of new Government proposals described as "creepy and authoritarian".
Newsagents and supermarkets may also have to move their cigarette displays out of view so as not to tempt people to take up smoking.
The "out of sight, out of mind" proposal is part of the Department of Health's consultation to be launched later this spring, which looks at ways to stop children smoking. The relevant legislation could be introduced in the autumn.
But the move has been denounced by critics as further evidence of a growing "nanny state" and another assault on smokers. Neil Rafferty, a spokesman for the smokers' rights group Forest, said: "This is another attempt by the Government to stigmatise smokers and make them feel bad about themselves.
"It is a creepy and authoritarian measure. Tobacco is a perfectly legal product from which the Government makes more than £10 billion a year in taxes." Other measures on the table include the outlawing of vending machines from pubs and restaurants and making nicotine-replacement gums and patches easier to buy.
According to the Department of Health, the strategy - coupled with the ban on smoking in public places - will save hundreds of lives. Dawn Primarolo, the public health minister, said: "It's vital we get across the message to children that smoking is bad. If that means stripping out vending machines or removing cigarettes from behind the counter, I'm willing to do that."
According to the Office for National Statistics, the proportion of adults who smoke has dropped from 24 per cent to 22 per cent since the ban was introduced last July. The Government has a target of reducing the proportion of smokers to 21 per cent by 2010. David Cameron, the Conservative leader, said: "I think this is worth looking at. As someone who struggled with giving up smoking, it helps if you take away some of the temptation."
Shane Brennan, a spokesman for the Association of Convenience Stores, which represents 33,000 shops, said: "This is going to be a massive burden on retailers and we are not sure that the end justifies the means. Cigarettes are already kept behind the counter."
Mark Littlewood, the communications director of the think tank Progressive Vision, said: "Banning the display of cigarettes and vending machines would be petty, pointless and patronising." "These sorts of ideas are typical of a government who seem hell bent on intervening in every single aspect of our lives, however trivial."