Treat adults like adults

Last June, President Obama signed into law the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. This gave the FDA authority to regulate tobacco products, something the agency wasted little time in utilizing.

By September, the administration had banned all flavored cigarettes, including those that taste like chocolate, clove and cherry, among other flavors.

Now the administration is turning its sights to banning menthols. In a meeting on March 30 and 31, the newly created scientific advisory committee on tobacco products tried to answer a very important question: are menthol cigarettes more harmful than regular ones?

As far as scientists have been able to tell, the answer is no. Much research has been done on the subject, and scientists have found that menthols have no meaningful effect on public health.

But advocates of the ban don’t really care if menthols pose a greater risk or not. Their concern is about the children, whom they fear are more likely to start smoking at an early age if the tobacco taste is covered up by something minty.

However, Joshua Rising, a researcher for the FDA, found no casual link between smoking menthols and an earlier initiation of smoking.

No one is arguing about whether smoking is harmful. Even the cigarette companies will admit that their product kills people, but does that mean everyone should be denied the right to inhale tobacco with a little mint in it?

We certainly don’t think so. Consenting adults should retain the right to smoke whatever kind of cigarettes they want as long as they’re responsible about it.

Twenty-six percent of all cigarettes sold in the United States are menthols, making them a very popular among smoking adults.

The product is derived from the oil of peppermint and was first sold in America in 1956. Presently, seven out of every 10 African American smokers smoke menthols, which, also raises questions about race in this ban.

The FDA is considering three options when it comes to the regulation of menthols. These include banning the minty cigarettes altogether, phasing them out over time or just adding stronger warning labels to menthol cigarette packs. 

Applying more descriptive labels to cigarette packs is never a bad idea. If the government doesn’t want its citizens smoking cigarettes, then the best thing it can do is inform them.

But threatening to ban menthols under the guise of “doing it for the children” doesn’t hold much weight.