{"id":63824,"date":"2022-05-11T08:04:43","date_gmt":"2022-05-11T14:04:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?p=63824"},"modified":"2024-07-17T17:08:55","modified_gmt":"2024-07-17T23:08:55","slug":"proposed-ban-on-menthol-cigarettes-could-be-huge-landmark-in-preventing-lung-cancer-deaths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/proposed-ban-on-menthol-cigarettes-could-be-huge-landmark-in-preventing-lung-cancer-deaths\/","title":{"rendered":"New proposed ban on menthol cigarettes could be ‘huge landmark’ in reducing lung cancer deaths"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A menthol cigarette ban will prevent lung cancer cases and deaths. Cigarette makers have deliberately marketed menthol cigarettes to Black people. Photo: Getty Images.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A new proposed federal ban on menthol-flavored cigarettes would be a \u201chuge landmark\u201d in efforts to reduce cases of lung cancer in the U.S., especially among African Americans who have been targeted by the tobacco industry with menthol cigarette advertising for decades, according to lung cancer expert, Dr. Nina Thomas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It could take more than a year for health experts from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to fully ban menthol cigarettes, but the decision is critical, said Thomas.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because African American men are at the greatest risk in the U.S. for developing and dying from lung cancer, a<\/a>ccording to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). And for decades, cigarette manufacturers have deliberately marketed menthol cigarettes to Black people<\/a>. Cigarette manufacturers advertised brands like \u201cKool\u201d to<\/a> African Americans as easier to inhale due to the cool sensation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a really big deal,\u201d said Thomas, who is director of the lung cancer screening program at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the first time the FDA is really hitting the tobacco industry with limitations on what they’re able to sell. Not selling menthol cigarettes is the first step in limiting their market and how they can sell dangerous cigarettes to high-risk populations. This is going to improve mortality,\u201d said Thomas. She is also an assistant professor of Medicine, Pulmonary Sciences and Critical Care<\/a> at the University of Colorado School of Medicine<\/a> on the Anschutz Medical Campus<\/a>.
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