FDA panel backs menthol cigarette ban

Pulling menthol cigarettes from the shelves would benefit the health of Americans, an FDA advisory panel recommended in a long-awaited report yesterday.

The scientific advisory panel, made up of scientists, physicians, and public health experts, spent a year analyzing the impact of menthol cigarettes before releasing the draft recommendations to the FDA. The agency is not bound to follow the advice of its advisory panels, but it often does.

The panel found that menthol cigarettes do not pose greater individual risk to smokers in terms of lung cancer, stroke, and other tobacco-related diseases. The menthol cigarettes, however, are especially enticing to teenagers and are more likely to develop them into lifetime smokers, the panel found.

via FDA panel backs menthol cigarette ban - The Boston Globe.

Good. Cigarettes are disgusting. I support people being able to smoke, as long as they get inside a giant air-tight plastic bag to do it.