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-- WITH PHOTO -- TO HEALTH, AND NATIONAL EDITORS:
Former U.S. Secretaries of Health, Surgeons General, Directors of
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Urge Lorillard, R.J.
Reynolds and Philip Morris to Stop Marketing and Selling Menthol
Cigarettes
WASHINGTON, March 5, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Citizens'
Commission to Protect the Truth, a group of all living former U.S.
Secretaries of Health, Education, and Welfare; U.S. Secretaries of
Health and Human Services; U.S. Surgeons General; and Directors of the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from every administration,
Republican and Democrat, since that of President Lyndon B. Johnson, is
urging Lorillard (Newport), R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (Kool and
Salem) and Philip Morris (Marlboro Menthols) to immediately stop
marketing and selling menthol cigarettes.
In letters to these tobacco companies' chief executives, former
Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare Joseph A. Califano, Jr.
and former Secretary of Health and Human Services, Louis W. Sullivan,
M.D., Chair and Vice Chair of the Commission, said, "Such action is
imperative to avoid encouraging children and teens to start and
continue smoking and to avoid the devastating impact of menthol
cigarettes on the African-American community."
In a joint statement the former cabinet officers called menthol "the
spoonful of sugar that makes the deadly medicine these companies are
selling go down." They pointed to overwhelming evidence that menthol
disguises the harsh taste of tobacco and makes quitting more
difficult, and accused these companies of aggressive marketing to
African-Americans which has "savaged" the black community with smoking
related deaths and crippling diseases like cancer, heart disease and
respiratory ailments like emphysema.
The Commission also called upon the Obama Administration to allow the
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to act on its Tobacco Products
Scientific Advisory Committee's three year old recommendation that the
FDA ban menthol as a characterizing flavor in cigarettes based on the
distinguished Committee's finding that removal of menthol cigarettes
from the market would benefit the public health. In 2009, President
Obama signed into law the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco
Control Act, which banned all characterizing flavors in cigarettes
except menthol, but directed the Scientific Advisory Committee to
immediately look into menthol flavoring and gave the FDA authority to
ban such flavoring.
In the five years since the Tobacco Control Act was signed, more than
two million 12- to 17-year-old children have started smoking and
scores of thousands of African-Americans who smoke menthol cigarettes
have died or been crippled by cancers and heart and respiratory
diseases.
Numerous scientific studies, before and after the Scientific Advisory
Committee report, demonstrate that removing menthol from cigarettes is
one of the most powerful measures the FDA can take to improve
Americans' health. Today the Citizens' Commission released a new
report, Time to Ban Menthol, written for the Commission by
CASAColumbia@, The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at
Columbia University, and funded with a grant from Legacy@, the
nation's premier anti-smoking foundation. This report also confirms
these findings.
"President Obama has recently stated that he intended to use his phone
and his pen to help the most vulnerable in our society and promote the
public interest. He has repeatedly expressed his determination to
reduce health care costs," said Califano and Sullivan in a joint
statement. "There is no more powerful action the President can take
than to use his phone and pen to convince the executives of companies
that produce and sell menthol cigarettes to end their promotion and
sale of these products and to support the recommendation of the FDA's
Scientific Advisory Committee to ban menthol as a characterizing
flavor in cigarettes."
At today's press conference former U.S. Health Secretaries Califano
and Sullivan will be joined by Dr. Samuel Ball, President and CEO of
CASAColumbia and Professor of Psychiatry at Yale University School of
Medicine; Robin Koval, President and CEO of Legacy@; Dr. Thelma Daley,
past President of Delta Sigma Theta; Carol McGruder, Co-Chair of the
African American Tobacco Leadership Council; and Delmonte Jefferson,
Executive Director of the National African-American Tobacco Prevention
Network.
Menthol and African-Americans
More than 82 percent of African-American smokers (5.4 million) smoke
menthol cigarettes and nearly three times as many black smokers smoke
menthol cigarettes compared with white smokers. The proportion of
African-Americans who smoke menthol cigarettes has jumped from 69
percent in 2002 to more than 82 percent in 2010. Blacks who smoke
menthol cigarettes are less likely to quit than those who smoke non
menthol cigarettes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
found as long ago as 2003 that some 50,000 blacks die from smoking
related diseases and black men who smoke are more likely than white
men who smoke to get lung cancer.
Menthol and Teens
More than 90 percent of adults addicted to cigarettes were hooked
before they were 21, most as children and teens. While 37 percent of
smokers smoke menthol cigarettes, 50 percent of 12- to 17-year-old
smokers smoke menthol cigarettes. While cigarette smoking in general
has been declining, the proportion of smokers who smoke menthol
cigarettes has increased, particularly among the youngest smokers.
Rates of menthol cigarette use have increased most dramatically among
12- to 17-year-old smokers: from 36 percent in 2002 to 50 percent in
2010. Among young smokers ages 18 to 25, the proportion of smokers
who smoke menthol cigarettes has increased from 30 percent in 2002 to
46 percent in 2010.
"How many more children in America will menthol cigarettes hook and
how many more African-Americans must die or be crippled by cancers and
cardiovascular diseases before the chief executive officers of
Lorillard, Reynolds and Philip Morris remove their menthol cigarettes
from the market and before the Obama Administration allows the FDA to
use the authority Congress gave it to ban menthol flavoring in
cigarettes?" said Califano and Sullivan.
"Once secret tobacco industry documents confirm that the menthol
content in cigarettes has long been manipulated to encourage uptake
and dependence by youth, especially in communities of color," said
Robin Koval, CEO and President of Legacy@. "Menthol cigarettes are
smoked at dramatically higher rates by newer, younger smokers when
compared with older, established smokers. They are also smoked at
highly disproportionate rates by African-Americans and other
minorities. It's past time that the FDA ban menthol as a
characterizing flavor: the research supports it, the public health
community urges it and lives literally depend on it," she said.
Dr. Sullivan and Mr. Califano noted that research in the CASAColumbia
report indicated that if only 10 percent of menthol smokers quit and
only 10 percent of those who would have started smoking menthol
cigarettes did not start because of a ban, more than 323,000
smoking-attributable deaths would be avoided by 2050, including 91,744
black smokers. A 20 percent reduction would prevent 478,154
smoking-attributable deaths, including 164,465 blacks, and a 30
percent reduction would prevent 633,252 smoking-attributable deaths,
including 237,317 blacks.
Dr. Samuel Ball, CASAColumbia's President and CEO and Professor of
Psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine, said, "Too many
people die from smoking-related illness; too many are unable to stop;
too many teenagers start smoking despite the risks. The decision to
ban menthol is long overdue to protect all Americans especially our
youth and African-Americans."
The Citizens' Commission to Protect the Truth was formed in 2004.
Among its efforts, the Commission shines a spotlight on the continued
need to fund truth@, the independent national youth counter-marketing
campaign mounted by Legacy@, and the only one with demonstrated
results in keeping children and teens from smoking. For more
information on the Commission, visit its website at
www.ProtecttheTruth.org.
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20111206/MM18289LOGO
SOURCE Citizens' Commission to Protect the Truth
-0- 03/05/2014
/CONTACT: Lauren Duran, 212-841-5260, lduran@casacolumbia.org; Ali McSherry, 212-841-5209, amcsherry@casacolumbia.org
/Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20111206/MM18289LOGO
CO: Citizens' Commission to Protect the Truth
ST: District of Columbia
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0000 03/05/2014 15:00:00 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com
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