Smoking may be under siege, but it is still the world’s second-biggest cause of preventable death. Tobacco kills nearly 6 million people every year, approximately 10 percent of all deaths. Smoking also results in hundreds of billions of dollars in economic costs from increased health care expenditure and lost productivity.
Earlier this month, after months of intense debate, the European Parliament voted for a ban on menthol cigarettes, which will come into force in 2022. Similar moves are afoot in the United States, again surrounded by intense debate.
Menthol cigarettes were invented in the 1920s by Lloyd “Spud” Hughes of Mingo Junction, Ohio, who reportedly stored his cigarettes in a tin with menthol crystals that he used to treat a persistent cold. The tobacco absorbed the mint flavor and made the cigarettes easier to smoke. Hughes began selling mentholated cigarettes, and by 1932 his Spud brand was the fifth–best-selling cigarette in the country.
Today about a quarter of cigarettes sold in the United States are menthol; 30 percent of adult smokers and more than 40 percent of youth smokers report smoking them.
In 2009 the United States passed a law that for the first time gave the Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate tobacco products. Among other things, the agency now has the power to regulate the levels of “harmful components” they contain.
The FDA quickly acted to ban flavorings such as chocolate and vanilla, which are thought to be particularly attractive to children and teenagers. But it stopped short of banning menthol—the most popular additive—pending further studies.
Menthol is not simply a flavor additive: It can also have druglike effects. In addition to its fresh taste and aroma, it can produce cooling, soothing sensations, which is why it is an ingredient in a number of medicinal products, such as throat lozenges. Menthol produces these effects by binding to receptors on sensory neurons that mediate signals related to pain, temperature, and irritation. Low doses of menthol in cigarette smoke can therefore reduce the painful and irritating effects on the lining of the nose, mouth, and airways, thereby allowing smokers to inhale more easily.
An analysis of internal tobacco industry documents from 1965 to 2000 identifies two types of menthol smoker. The first are people for whom menthol primarily serves to reduce the harsh effects of smoke. These people tend to be occasional smokers or young smokers. The second are people for whom it provides a stronger flavor and physical sensation. In the United States, they tend to be African-American men.
Data from numerous surveys and research projects confirm these findings. Adolescents aged between 12 and 17, for example, smoke menthol cigarettes at a higher rate than older age groups. The same is true for young adults aged 18 to 24.
The fact that menthol cigarettes are favored by adolescents and young smokers leads to the suspicion that their availability encourages people to smoke, and this, too, is supported by research. In 2011 a report from the FDA’s Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee concluded that “there is strong evidence indicating that adolescent menthol cigarette smokers are more dependent on nicotine than adolescent non-menthol cigarette smokers.”