Menthol cigarettes

Why ban?

• The move aimed at not just curbing smoking in the American population, but also “reducing tobacco-related health disparities”.
• As per the US government survey, nearly 85 percent of African Americans smoke menthol cigarettes, as opposed to 29 percent of White smokers.
• While some states in the US have already banned menthol cigarettes, the FDA plans to extend the prohibition countrywide.
• There has been an increase in tobacco use among American youth, driven mostly by e-cigarettes. 
• The proposed ban issued by the US Food and Drug Administration(US FDA) does not cover electronic cigarettes.
• Apart from menthol, all other flavours in cigarettes were banned in the US in 2009.

What are menthol cigarettes?

• A menthol cigarette is a cigarette flavored with the compound menthol.
• They are constructed similarly to non-mentholated cigarettes, with menthol added at any of several stages during the manufacturing process. 
• Menthol may be derived from distilled corn mint oil, or produced synthetically. 
• While trace amounts of menthol may be added to non-mentholated cigarettes for flavour or other reasons, a menthol cigarette typically has at least 0.3% menthol content by weight.
• Menthol is a chemical naturally found in peppermint and other mint plants, but it can also be made in a lab.
• It was first added to tobacco in the 1920s and 1930s.
• The menthol, with its minty taste and aroma, reduces the irritation and harshness of smoking. 
• This increases appeal and makes menthol cigarettes easier to use, particularly for youth and young adults. 
• Menthol also interacts with nicotine in the brain to enhance nicotine’s addictive effects, while making it more difficult for people to quit smoking.
• Menthol cigarettes usually attract adolescents who initiate with a flavoured product, then switch to regular cigarettes.
• Menthol cigarettes were first developed by Lloyd “Spud” Hughes of Mingo Junction, Ohio, USA in 1924, though the idea did not become popular until the Axton-Fisher Tobacco Company acquired the patent in 1927, marketing them nationwide as “Spud Menthol Cooled Cigarettes”. 

Ban in other countries-

• The first country in the world to ban menthol cigarettes was Brazil, in 2012. 
• Canada banned these cigarettes in 2017, and the European Union in May 2020. 
• Though the UK had left the EU by then, it too adopted the ban. 
• Turkey, Moldova, and Ethiopia have also banned menthol cigarettes.
• India has not banned the sale of menthol cigarettes.

Further reading: https://journalsofindia.com/e-cigarette-or-vaping-devices/