Use menthol - menthol to entice young smokers

In the fight to win everyone's support for tobacco regulations, the fourth-century US researchers announced that tobacco companies adjusted the amount of menthol ( Peppermint essential oil) in medicine makes young people who breathe in the first breath feel more comfortable.

Dr. Gregory Connolly of Harvard University School of Public Health said: 'Melissa stimulates the receptor for cooling in the lungs and throat. It makes smoking easier. '

The study, published in the US Public Health, is published when the US Congress considers legislation that allows the US Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco regulations.

Representatives of tobacco companies RJ Reynolds, Philip Morris and Lorillard rejected the research results.

Photo smokers outside government offices in Boston, Massachusetts.(Photo: Reuters)

David Howard - spokesperson for RJ Reynolds, a unit of Reynolds American Inc and a producer of Camel and Kool cigarettes - said: 'This report is simply aimed at gaining support for federal law for the tobacco industry, not a scientific review of menthol problems'.

Lorillard Inc spokesman Michael Robinson also said in short: 'Americans should look at the report as a tool to promote policy.'

Cigarette smoking is the biggest cause of preventable deaths in the United States, every year cigarettes kill more than 400,000 people.

Brands of menthol cigarettes have quickly become popular in the community. The most users are young people, especially new smokers. The national survey conducted in 2006 showed that 44% of smokers aged 12 to 17 said they use menthol cigarettes, a similar situation occurs in smokers of the same age. from 18 to 24.

Connolly and his colleagues conducted research on internal companies on the use of menthol in a major tobacco agreement. They also perform independent experiments in laboratories as well as review studies of people's smoking trends.

Accordingly, in 1987 RJ Reynolds transformed low-quality menthol with the policy of attracting more youth to use tobacco.

In a company document, it says: 'The first smoker reaction is generally not good. The initial reaction may be alleviated with low menthol rates. '

Start with pleasure

Major tobacco companies in the United States in 1998 agreed to spend $ 206 billion on 46 states to help offset the cost of treating smokers to collapse under a 25-year mediation agreement. The treaty, including restrictions on tobacco advertising and marketing, ended the long-standing legal battle with states.

Connolly said tobacco companies use cigarettes with mild menthol concentrations to target young people, cigarettes with stronger menthol flavor for people who have smoked for a while.

In a phone interview, Connolly said: 'Mentola helps control nicotine . ' But he also added that menthol levels are too high for new smokers to tolerate.

Menthol - menthol (Photo: ScienceDaily)

Among the drug brands tested, researchers found the fastest-growing companies in the youth class - including Lorillard's Newport brand and Philip Morris Marlboro Milds of the United States - often lowest menthol ratio.

Connolly clearly found tobacco companies 'using one ingredient to make nicotine addicts easier to smoke'.

David Sylvia, a spokesman for Altria Group Inc's Philip Morris unit, countered that their company changed their menthol ratio to gain market share for adults.

'There is very little direct evidence to suggest that menthol rates affect drug addiction' . She also added that the new product 'is not for the target audience or the underage smokers'.

Philip Morris supports FDA regulations on tobacco.

Lorillard while protesting against the regulations also rejected the idea that the company is targeting young smokers.

Robinson said: 'Lorillard does not change any of its cigarettes just to increase the number of smokers or increase nicotine addiction.'

According to the American Lung Association, 4,000 children under the age of 18 smoke their first cigarette every day, nearly 1,100 of them become smokers.

Connolly said the results underscored the need for the FDA to regulate tobacco regulations.

The law before the House of Representatives prohibits the production of fruit and milk candies but no regulation for menthol. But Connolly says the law gives FDA the right to regulate menthol levels.

There is a lack of specific regulations for mentola doses, which stops the National African American Tobacco Prevention Network supporting the law because it is incomplete and discriminatory for people. black skin.

According to the researchers, from 70% of black smokers in the United States use menthol-containing cigarettes, compared to about 30% of whites.

The Campaign for Non-Smoking Children stated that the study showed that the lack of tobacco regulations allowed tobacco companies to adjust their products in a harmful way.