FDA Seeks Ban On Menthol Cigarettes To Fight Teen Smoking (npr.org)

The Food and Drug Administration announced Thursday that it will seek a ban on the sale of menthol-flavored cigarettes. From a report: The announcement came as the agency officially released a detailed plan to also restrict the sale of flavored electronic cigarettes. It also wants to ban flavored cigars. In a statement, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb says the moves are aimed at fighting smoking among young people. Flavored e-cigarettes, menthol-flavored tobacco cigarettes and flavored cigars are all popular among teenagers. "Today, I'm pursuing actions aimed at addressing the disturbing trend of youth nicotine use and continuing to advance the historic declines we've achieved in recent years in the rates of combustible cigarette use among kids," Gottlieb says.

While cigarette smoking has hit a record low in the United States, vaping has been skyrocketing. That trend has raised concerns that a new generation of young people will become addicted to nicotine. Gottlieb says the moves were prompted by new data showing a 78 percent increase in e-cigarette use among high school students and a 48 percent increase among middle school students, from 2017 to 2018. "These data shock my conscience," Gottlieb says.

Comments

A modest proposal

[stevegee58]

Here's a modest proposal: Ban all tobacco products completely.

Turnabout

[SuperKendall]

Read your own article moron:

Many of the secondary compounds (polyaromatic hydrocarbons, PAHs, aldehydes, and carbonyls) identified in ENDS aerosols and replacement liquids (e-liquids) are considered low level, especially in comparison to levels measured in environmental tobacco/cigarette smoke [5â"7,12,13]. Furthermore, the levels of toxic compounds identified in ENDS aerosols that primary users would be exposed to in a âoevapingâ session are also not expected to approach established threshold limit values for what is considered a health risk for by-standard exposure to these compounds in cigarette smoke