Big Tobacco targets minority youth

According to a recent Stanford University Medical School study, described in Science Daily, the big tobacco companies are trying to lure minority youth into smoking menthol cigarettes. Even thought these companies know many of the these young people will eventually die from smoking their product, and they claim not to be targeting young people, the evidence uncovered by the Stanford report makes it clear these companies are out to make a profit by selling as much death and disease as they can to minority youth.

The Food and Drug Administration is on the verge of banning menthol in cigarettes. The report's lead researcher, Lisa Henriksen, PhD, says, "The tobacco companies went out of their way to argue to the Food and Drug Administration that they don't use racial targeting. This evidence is not consistent with those claims."

Menthol is used to makes cigarettes less harsh and is said in company ads to bring about a feeling of "freshness." The major users of these kinds of cigarettes are teenagers, minorities and the poor ("low-income populations"). The FDA tasked the Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee to study the health hazards of menthol cigarettes, and the committee concluded, "Removal of menthol cigarettes from the marketplace would benefit public health in the United States."

This is not very startling, since removing all cigarettes would benefit public health. Naturally, we didn't need a special committee to know that banning menthol cigarettes would be beneficial. The recommendation is non-binding anyway. The committee is going to meet again in the middle of July to write up a final report. Let's hope it is more specific than the quote in Science Daily.

The FDA should ban menthol cigarettes just to stop the industry's predation against middle and high school students. The committee, which has the Stanford report, should really come down hard on the industry. It was charged. Dr, Henriksen said, "with considering a broad definition of harm to smokers and other populations, particularly youth. We think our study, which shows the predatory marketing in school neighborhoods with higher concentrations of youth and African-American students, fits a broad definition of harm."

The report reveals an increase in cigarette use by youth between 2004 and 2008, and that of people ages 12-17, 71.9 percent of African American youth prefer menthol brands (the figures for whites was 41 percent and Hispanics 47 percent). Comparing the actions of Newport (menthols made by Lorillard) with Marlboro Reds, the report shows that Newport offers special price reductions around schools that have a large African-American enrollment. Other brands were also studied.

The study found that ads for menthol cigarettes increased by almost 6 percent near schools for every increase in the proportion of African-American students of 10 percent, and Newport cut the price of a pack by 12 cents for each of those 10 percent increases.

In the surrounding neighborhoods, Newport seemingly checked out the proportion of youth ages 10-17 (!). For each 10 percent increase in their proportion, they increased ads by 11.6 percent, and the odds were 5.3 percent higher that Newports would sell at discounted prices. Marlboro Reds had no ads or price changes related to the presence of youth or African-American students.

We now know that despite the industry claims African-American teens are being especially targeted. Stephen Fortmann, MD, who also participated the study, said, "When kids are exposed to more cigarette advertising, they are more likely to start smoking, which will undoubtedly lead to dire health consequences. Our study finds that tobacco companies are trying to make smoking more attractive to teens, when we as a society should be doing just the opposite. Adding menthol to cigarettes makes it easier to smoke and harder to quit, so the public health community strongly supports an FDA ban on menthol flavoring."

My prediction: The FDA will vote for the ban, and the Supreme Court will overturn it as a violation of free speech. Libertarians and tea party folks will be against the ban as an infringement of personal liberty.

What 10 year old doesn't want a Newport to suck on while playing a slice 'em and dice 'em video game?

Electronic Cigarette on CBS and AP Newswire

Today has been a whirlwind as far as press is concerned. First, we started off the morning, waiting for the feed from the E-Cigarette featured on the Early Show on CBS. Then it came. Our jaws dropped to the floor as we watched a doctor and two news anchors literally spew lies from the set. Needless to say, we do hope that the watching public takes some time to further educate themselves on the electronic cigarette as obviously, the CBS Early Show has no desire to do any research.

The acting by the hosts Julie Chen and Harry Smith were most definitely “Big Brother” worthy and it was very apparent that they are non-smokers who wish the habit did not exist. But even more amazing than this were the comments made by Dr. Jonathan Whiteson, Assistant Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine and Medicine, with NYU.

When asked if electronic cigarettes are safe, he responds with “we don’t know, but we don’t think so?” Ok. Why do you not think so? Data? Have you run your own tests? There have been three separate liquids tested and all of them were found to contain ingredients that are approved and safe world wide. 

Yes, we agree that more testing can and should and will be done on both the vapor and the liquid itself. However, all results have indicated that these are safer than tobacco  cigarette. Isn’t it time that you as a doctor maybe use some of that e-cigs “magic” and do some testing of your own? We would definitely love to hear your professional diagnosis on this. Certainly not your personal opinion.

Furthering on his safe argument, he then goes on that the electronic cigarette are “unregulated, certainly not FDA approved and Made in China”. Here is all we need to say about this: The Committee on Energy and Commerce just completed a hearing on the salmonella outbreak plaguing our food supply. What we also find interesting is that in 2007 and 2008, the FDA notes that 12 times Peanut Corp tested positive for salmonella, yet they shipped anyways. 

And recently, Keith Ledger died from using Ambien. Granted, there is more to this story, so please follow the link, but it proves that not everything approved by the FDA is safe. Finally, the FDA has some issues internally where the scientists allege mismanagement at the Agency. According to a letter obtained by CNN from the FDA scientists, “The agency is “fundamentally broken” and “failing to fulfill its mission”. Is it possible the FDA has too much power and not enough control?

The salmonella outbreak also proves that American manufacturing and processes can be just as bad as Chinese processes. The persons responsible for the melamine in the milk fiasco plead guilty and brought to very harsh, yet swift justice. We will see what happens to the American business responsible for the contamination and those who obviously covered up the 12 instances of positive testing.

As far as his comments that some companies are marketing to adolescents: We are on the Internet 24 hours a day. We research the daylights out of our products, our competitors products, and see just about every article there is to see. We have come across websites that do offer these as a smoking cessation device (even though we take a different opinion), but we have never, ever run across anyone who has ever suggested even with color scheme, that the electronic cigaretteis for adolescents. That is simply, a shameful, boldfaced lie.

So… enough about bad journalism. Here is some great journalism! It deserves its own post so we will provide you with a link so you can see what a good article is supposed to look like. This article was written by Audra Ang with the Associated Press, and is a very well researched bit of writing. Chinese e-cigs gain ground amid safety concerns.