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Editorial o
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<br /> total menthol-related harm: 41% the
<br /> What more evidence is needed? E3
<br /> smoking-related premature deaths
<br /> and o
<br /> Remove menthol cigarettes from 50% the life-years lost. This anal- _*
<br /> ysis demonstrates the contribution of
<br /> menthol cigarettes toward the annihila- c
<br /> the marketplace now tion of a people already under siege by a
<br /> En
<br /> racist society and its myriad of inequities, CD
<br /> 1,2 governmental policies and political domi- fl
<br /> Valerie Yerger v
<br /> nation.l� 18 Institutionalised racism, its cn
<br /> long historical impact, and the associated, o
<br /> Tobacco remains the leading cause of prematurely if the exemption of menthol yet unresolved, intergenerational trauma
<br /> preventable death and disease in the USA is allowed to continue.6 experienced by black people in America
<br /> and many other countries. However, The disproportionate toll of menthol ciga- have made them vulnerable to the clever 6
<br /> among all racial and ethnic groups in the rettes among African Americans compared marketing and predatory dumping of
<br /> USA, African Americans bear the greatest with the general population is a social injus- mentholated tobacco products in their o
<br /> burden from tobacco-related morbidity tice. The black community has long been communities. O
<br /> and mortality.'Every year,45 000 African subjected to the predatory marketing of For decades, the tobacco industry has o
<br /> Americans prematurely and unnecessarily mentholated tobacco products, particularly exploited social and economic inequities N
<br /> die from tobacco-caused diseases.An esti- in lower income areas, where there are not to foster the uptake and use of menthol N
<br /> mated 85% of them smoked menthol only more advertisements,but more promo- cigarettes, and create brand loyalty among o
<br /> cigarettes.2 tions and cheaper prices for menthol ciga- African Americans. Tobacco companies rn
<br /> Menthol's sensory properties reinforce rettes when compared with more affluent strategically targeted menthol cigarettes to CD
<br /> smoking, increase uptake of nicotine and neighbourhoods. Tobacco companies also low-income African Americans, blanketing o
<br /> toxic smoke components, and discourage heavily rely on their cooptation of commu- inner city communities with marketing, n
<br /> cessation. Menthol's cooling, anaesthetic nity leaders to defuse tobacco control free samples, and music promotions'19 and 0)and analgesic effects ease initiation among efforts.' Black-led organisations with finan- thereby contributing to the tobacco-related m
<br /> new smokers by masking the harshness cial ties to the tobacco industry have played health disparities observed today,as Mendez m
<br /> and irritation of tobacco smoke, reducing a critical role in disseminating misinfonna- and Le have now confirmed. We can no 3
<br /> pain sensations in the mouth and throat, tion throughout the black community. Such longer ignore the intersecting, overlapping m
<br /> and enabling deeper inhalation that facili- misinformation, for example, includes the and distinctive systems of oppression that No
<br /> rates greater exposure to nicotine.3 idea that local policies prohibiting the sale of shape `being black in America' and how o
<br /> On 3 March 2009, Representative mentholated tobacco products are racist and menthol cigarettes contribute to sustained 1< p
<br /> Henry Waxman and 124 congressional will increase the criminalisation of individ- and widening health disparities.20 cc°g
<br /> cosponsors introduced H.R. 1256—the uals who possess or smoke them,exploiting This paper is compelling on its own o
<br /> `Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco legitimate concerns about racist policing to merit; however, read in tandem with the a
<br /> Control Act. Representative Waxman's defend the tobacco industry's targeted preda- authors' previous paper, one can fully a
<br /> Committee Report expressed concerns lion on the black community.9 to appreciate the significant role menthol o
<br /> about the disproportionate use of menthol Authors Mendez and Le,in their article cigarettes have played in addicting 3
<br /> cigarettes among African Americans, the `Consequences of a match made in hell: millions of young people to nicotine and
<br /> targeted marketing of menthol cigarettes the harm caused by menthol smoking to in the deaths of thousands due to tobacco.
<br /> in black communities, and the higher the African American population over As the authors emphasise, mentholated
<br /> 07
<br /> rates of lung cancer among African Amer- 1980-2018,"' show why none of us can cigarettes have a `significant detrimental
<br /> ican smokers compared with non-African remain silent and complicit. This paper impact on the public's health and could o
<br /> American smokers, urging the Secretary should serve as a kick upside the head continue to pose a substantial health risk.' o
<br /> of Health and Human Services to move for those who are in a position to remove More than a decade after the FDA was n
<br /> quickly to address the unique public these deadly products from the market- given authority to regulate tobacco products,
<br /> health issues posed by menthol cigarettes. place. Until this paper, no prior study has long after other flavours favoured by white .
<br /> Yet, although most other characterising fully quantified the health harm inflicted children were banned from most tobacco 0
<br /> flavours in cigarettes were prohibited in on African Americans by menthol ciga- products, and long after the first of several
<br /> 2009 under the final version of the Family rettes. Yet, for at least three decades, scientific reports found menthol cigarettes to
<br /> Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control African American tobacco control activists pose a public health risk above that seen with Cn
<br /> m
<br /> Act, menthol was inexplicably excluded.s have been out there resisting the perva- non-menthol cigarettes,22-24 the FDA still has '0
<br /> It has been estimated that hundreds of sive presence of the tobacco industry and not acted. The black community has been 3
<br /> thousands of African Americans and other their deadly products in black communi- abandoned at the federal level,leaving activCD
<br /> -
<br /> menthol smokers are destined to die ties,12-15 including filing a lawsuit to get ists to seek local and state policy changes.So. N
<br /> the Center for Tobacco Products of the the question for me is: Given the mountains o
<br /> US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of evidence, will anything push the federal 0
<br /> 'Social and Behavioral Sciences,University of California to act on menthol.16 Now the evidence is government to consider social justice and act
<br /> San Francisco,San Francisco,California,USA v
<br /> Z irrefutable: menthol cigarettes are killing on its commitment to finally ban menthol
<br /> African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council, our people at a rate unmatched by any cigarettes and all flavoured cigars?2s z6 n
<br /> San Francisco,California,USA other assaults on our community. The recent highly publicised killings of C/)-n
<br /> Correspondence to Dr Valerie Yerger,Social and Though constituting only 12% of black men and women, including George
<br /> Behavioral Sciences,University of California San
<br /> Francisco,San Francisco,California 94143-0612,USA; the total US population, African Amer- Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor o
<br /> Valerie.Yerger@ucsf.edu icans bear an alarming amount of the and many others, brought to the forefront
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<br /> BM� Yerger V.Tob Control Month 2021 Vol 0 No 0 1 °-
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