Fighting Menthol: Past, Present and Future

In 2009, the federal government banned all flavored cigarettes, leaving menthol—used by almost 90% of all African-American smokers--on the market. And it’s not a surprise. Big Tobacco has used menthol, the most highly-addictive flavor, to target and market directly to African-American communities for decades, creating generational nicotine addiction and leading to hundreds of thousands of deaths. Join this session to understand menthol as a social-justice issue. We will also discuss the latest ways the industry is using menthol—with e-cigarettes and the proliferation of new “iced” mentholated flavors—to hook a next generation of lifetime customers. This panel will explain why there should be one focused legislative fight: ending the sale not only of all flavored cigarettes but of all menthol and other flavored tobacco products.