Reactions to story from The New York Times

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  Another bit of useless symbolism

  http://prometheus6.org/node/20895
  203 days ago in Prometheus 6 | All respect and no restraint · Authority: 196

  Another bit of useless symbolism Posted May 13th, 2008 by Prometheus 6 in Health I don't know anyone that smokes clove or cinnamon-flavored cigarettes. Cigarette Bill Treats Menthol With Leniency By STEPHANIE SAUL Some public health experts are
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  The Times Discovers the Tobacco Bill's Flavoritism

  http://www.reason.com/blog/show/126490.html
  203 days ago in Reason Magazine - Hit & Run · Authority: 60

  The New York Times notices that the bill authorizing the Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco products bans every cigarette flavor but menthol. Not coincidentally, Philip Morris, the only cigarette manufacturer that supports the bill, sells
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  The Times Discovers the Tobacco Bill's Flavoritism

  http://www.reason.com/blog/show/126490.html
  203 days ago in Reason Magazine - Hit & Run · Authority: 2,087

  The New York Times notices that the bill authorizing the Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco products bans every cigarette flavor but menthol. Not coincidentally, Philip Morris, the only cigarette manufacturer that supports the bill, sells
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  Profits over people, part XXIV

  http://www.psychsound.com/2008/05/profits_over_people_part_x...
  203 days ago in PsychSound by Steve Bergstein · Authority: 10

  We all know the system is rotten. Rotten to the core, in fact. As kids, we learned about the American political system, and how Congress passes bills and the President signs them into law, and the cartoons or examples provided to us showed concerned
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  Cigarette Bill Panders To Blacks

  http://www.thepiratescove.us/2008/05/13/cigarette-bill-pande...
  203 days ago in Pirate’s Cove — Global Warming Rules! · Authority: 339

  Once again the Democrat Party puts group indenty political pandering over their morals (NY Times) Some public health experts are questioning why menthol, the most widely used cigarette flavoring and the most popular cigarette choice of African-American
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  Cough

  http://www.unfogged.com/archives/week_2008_05_11.html#008705
  203 days ago in Unfogged · Authority: 229

  Oh noes! They're banning clove cigarettes! How can the powerful Theater Geek and Goth Kid lobbies let this happen?Read / Contribute Comments
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  Congress cracks down on flavored cigarettes to show it cares about children...

  http://althouse.blogspot.com/2008/05/congress-cracks-down-on...
  203 days ago in Althouse · Authority: 1,078

  ... and has to cut a swath around menthol to show it cares about black people. Or... wait... is it supposed to show it cares about black people by helping them like smoking less? It's so hard to be a caring congressperson these days!
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  Half A Loaf

  http://susiemadrak.com/2008/05/13/06/10/half-a-loaf-2/
  203 days ago in Suburban Guerrilla · Authority: 382

  They say its better than nothing, but sometimes I wonder: Some public health experts are questioning why menthol, the most widely used cigarette flavoring and the most popular cigarette choice of African-American smokers, is receiving special protection
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  Freshly minted bias

  http://www.jacobgrier.com/blog/archives/934.html
  180 days ago in Jacob Grier: Coffee, Cocktails, Commentary, and Conjuring · Authority: 48

  The New York Times ran another article by Stephanie Saul today about the menthol exemption to the proposed ban on flavored cigarettes. Since black smokers are the largest buyers of menthol cigarettes, the issue is becoming entangled in racial politics. For example: The bill’s treatment of menthol “caves to the financial interests of tobacco companies and discriminates against African-Americans — the segment of our population at greatest risk for the killing and crippling smoking-related diseases,” the letter from the former [federal health] secretaries said. “It sends a message that African American youngsters are valued less than white youngsters.” Or this, from Saul’s previous article: Menthol is particularly controversial because public health authorities have worried about its health effects on African-Americans. Nearly 75 percent of black smokers use menthol brands, compared with only about one in four white smokers. That is why one former public health official says the legislation’s menthol exemption is a “cave-in to the industry,” an opinion shared by some other public health advocates. “I think we can say definitively that menthol induces smoking in the African-American community and subsequently serves as a direct link to African-American death and disease,” said the former official, Robert G. Robinson, who retired two years ago as an associate director in the office of smoking and health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She’s right about the financial interest: the menthol exemption is clearly a sop to Phillip Morris, the only tobacco company backing the bill. And she’s right that there’s no logical reason for allowing only menthol as a flavoring, except for the fact that it’s the flavor most consumers of flavored tobacco actually want. It’s dubious, however, to say that this discriminates against blacks. Whatever the current market shares may be, there’s no reason to think that if other flavorings are banned consumers of all races won’t switch to menthol. In fact, it’s perverse to say that not banning a product that’s enjoyed by many African-American adults is a form of racial discrimination. To do so implies that blacks are victims of marketing, cannot responsibly make their own decisions, and need to be coercively protected from flavored tobacco products; basically, that they should be treated like children. The alternative view — that however regrettable heavy menthol cigarette use among African-Americans may be, the choice should be theirs to make — doesn’t even merit a mention within the The Times‘ reporting pages. I don’t believe that either side in this debate is truly motivated by racism. However, if reporters are going to print allegations of discrimination in their coverage of it, they should consider that public health activists are no more immune to racial bias than anyone else. See also Jacob’s Sullum’s coverage of the issue for Reason: The Times Discovers the Tobacco Bill’s Flavoritism FDA-Approved Cancer Sticks
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  Tobacco Legislation: A Case Study of Democracy in Action

  http://www.thedoctorweighsin.com/journal/2008/5/31/tobacco-l...
  186 days ago in www.thedoctorweighsin.com - Current posts · Authority: 2

  By Dov Michaeli MD, PhD Democracy, like a sausage, is better enjoyed if you don’t see how it was made. Here is an example. Legislation that would regulate the marketing of flavored cigarettes is wending its way through Congress. The legislation, which would give the FDA the power to oversee tobacco products, would try to reduce smoking’s allure to young people by banning most flavored cigarettes, including clove and cinnamon. So far so good, but wait a minute: there is a curious exemption to the flavors to be banned – menthol is not to be touched! How come? Read on. Why flavor cigarettes? In their effort to addict young people to cigarette smoking, tobacco companies realized that flavoring would increase the chance that a beginner would stay with the habit, long enough to cause addiction. How ingenious; neurobiology in the service of tobacco marketing. Young people smoking mocha-flavored cigarettes are likely to recall the wonderful flavor of the chocolate milk they had consumed in childhood – and this recall, stored forever in their brain, would legitimize anything associated with it, including smoking. There is another reason for the flavoring of tobacco: it masks its harsh flavor. Once you are hooked flavor really doesn’t matter, but those critical initial encounters with smoking need to be as pleasant as possible. Research has shown that nicotine alters several brain structures practically from the first exposure, and by the fourth or fifth smoke—the brain is hooked. And so are you. The special case of menthol cigarettes Regulating flavored cigarettes makes a lot of sense, you might say. So why exempt menthol from regulation? After all a growing body of evidence suggests that menthol makes it harder to kick the smoking habit — a view shared even by many scientists who say that menthol in cigarettes is not itself dangerous . Of 45 million smokers in this country, the American Lung Association identifies about 33 million as non-Hispanic whites and 5 million as African-American. Recent data indicate about the same rate of smoking for both groups — in the 21 to 22 percent range. But: The use of menthol cigarettes is disproportionately an African-American phenomenon, which critics say has been reinforced by decades of advertising aimed at black consumers. Nearly 75 percent of black smokers use menthol brands, compared with only about 25 percent of white smokers. So, the bottom line is that congress is about to protect white kids from getting hooked on smoking through flavored cigarettes. African American kids need not apply. One might think that this is just an unfortunate coincidence. But think again: getting caught snorting an ounce of cocaine, a “white” habit, will lend you in the county jail for a couple of weeks. One ounce of crack cocaine, a “black” preference, will get you a few years in jail. Do you smell a rat? As the New York Times reports, this legislation has been negotiated by Congress with Philip Morris for about 5 years. In the senate it is sponsored by the Ted Kennedy and 56 co-sponsors. Even the head of the National African American Tobacco Prevention Network, a nonprofit group that had been adamantly against menthol, acknowledged that the ingredient needed to be off the bargaining table — for now — because he didn’t want to imperil the bill’s chances. Politics as the art of the possible… I am all for negotiation and compromise and bipartisanship and Kumbaya. But this deal smells of racism; had the situation been reversed and 75% of white kids smoked mentholated cigarettes, the cool menthol exemption would have had a snowball’s chance in hell of even being considered, let alone passed. How humiliating to all of us, but especially to African Americans. Another curious twist Any amateur investigative reporter would smell something funny: how come the negotiation was conducted with one company, Philip Morris, and not with the rest of the industry? What’s PM’s motive? It’s actually not very complicated. · The legislation could help Philip Morris, with its best-selling Marlboro franchise, further entrench itself as the industry’s dominant player by placing new restrictions on cigarette marketing, making it difficult for rivals to use advertising to catch up. Philip Morris is working on new products that it hopes would be less harmful; the other companies cannot compete with PM’s R&D resources and advertising budget. Any restriction on advertising imposed on all the tobacco companies will put the smaller ones at a marketing disadvantage and will further entrench PM. · Philip Morris’ menthol brand is only second in market share, and is the fastest growing. By concentrating all its advertising firepower on its mentholated brand it has a better chance to catch up and surpass Newport, the best-selling brand among African-Americans and the menthol market leader over all. And I, for a moment, thought that Philip Morris was moved by conscience and concern for public health… Q: Why did it take 5 years to negotiate this deal? A: Because our legislators have been bought by the tobacco industry. Only after Philip Morris signaled its approval and agreed to lobby for the bill did many senators come out of the woodwork to join as co-sponsors. Of course, the other tobacco companies fiercely oppose the bill. But the weak sisters have less money to lavish on our representatives in Congress - and hence less clout. This is a lesson they don’t teach in civics classes. Maybe they should.

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