Tobacco manufacturers thought that adding menthol to tobacco products made them easier for teenagers to smoke thus helping them increase profits, according to evidences before the FDA’s consultative committee on tobacco products.

But the committee also heard that there is no proof indicating that menthol in tobacco products encourages teenagers to smoke or that this additive has some health risks.

The agency’s Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee was given a deadline in order to submit for consideration a report on menthol cigarettes thus helping the FDA make a decision on whether it should regulate the products more strictly or prohibit them entirely.

Last year the FDA outlawed tobacco products with herbal and fruit flavors, but exempted menthol from the order.

After that ban was divulged, the FDA presented the results of various surveys which showed that teenagers thought flavorings make smoking more alluring and safer. The same data is true for menthol.

At the committee’s request Stacey Anderson, PhD, presented record after record showing that cigarette producers thought that menthol cigarettes were more attractive to teenagers who just start to smoke, calling them “the best starter products”.

According to a survey conducted among consumers, those smokers who gave preference to menthol cigarettes perceived them as “light” or “mild” compared with traditional cigarettes.

Dr. Anderson also presented records and advertisements proving that companies first of all were aimed at African-Americans, Asian market, teenagers and especially young women.

Billboards and various advertisements for menthol brands as for example Newport, often showed groups of active and happy young people, according to Anderson.

Also was found out that menthol cigarette smokers were less interested in quitting if compared with smokers of unflavored tobacco products.

One record showed that “a less irritating cigarette” would dissuade smokers from quitting.

The UCSF researcher, Valerie Yerger, revised industry research on the degree to which menthol really makes cigarettes lee irritating. In fact it really does it, through various mechanisms; menthol deadens the sharp sensation in the mouth and throat produced by cigarette smoke and nicotine.

The findings also proved that tobacco executives were first of all interested in increasing profits and loyalty to some brands, rather than menthol cigarettes.

While the industry knew for sure that menthol cigarettes were especially targeted young people, the documents didn’t provide any evidences that novice smokers of these products were any younger than those starting on traditional cigarettes.

The majority of these data were showed in presentations by FDA staff who revised published scientific researches and surveys. For instance they that observed that additives for menthol cigarettes were common in advertisement aimed at teenagers. Also these products were placed on billboards located in low-income neighborhoods.

By Sara Norton, Staff Writer. Copyright © 2010 Cigarette-Store.org. All rights reserved.