DEBATE SHARPENS OVER MENTHOL CIGARETTES

AMERICAN PUBLIC HEALTH EXPERTS CLAIM
MENTHOL CIGARETTES “SWEET THE POISON.”

NEW YORK (Health News) - Government health experts on Tuesday told a Food and Drug Administration panel that there is mixed information on whether menthol in cigarettes induces people to smoke or makes it harder for them to quit. Representatives from three major tobacco companies, speaking before a committee tasked with advising the federal government on tobacco regulation, defended menthol cigarettes against charges that they put smokers' health at greater risk than regular cigarettes. “Menthol does not make cigarettes more harmful,” says vice president of the best-selling menthol cigarette, Newport. On the other hand, several public health experts, argued for a total ban of the additive, due to its role in cigarettes as “sweetening the poison.” The National Institute on Drug Abuse, presented data showing menthol smokers are usually have their first cigarette within 19 minutes of waking up, compared with about 37 minutes for smokers of traditional cigarettes. So this is an important indicator of addiction, they said.

The committee, before makes its recommendations, wants to to review information about industry marketing practices, the chemical makeup of menthol and what effects it has on human physiology, as well as any role it might play in a person's decision to start smoking or their efforts to quit. A decision to ban menthol outright would have a huge impact on the tobacco industry, as menthol cigarettes account for approximately a quarter of the market. But, argue advocates of such a ban, the FDA has already banned all other flavored cigarettes. “There's no distinction, no logic” to allowing menthol cigarettes to remain on the market while other flavors are banned, says experts from Tobacco Related Disease Research Program.


Menthol added into cigarettes increases the health risks because due to its more attractive flavour and fragrance, they become more powerfully addictive than regular cigarettes, and also because flavorings lure children to smoke.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

The camel is pleased to eat thorny plants, which destroy its nose, to enjoy the taste of his own blood without being conscious of the pain and self-mutilation. It seems that human beings act in the same way. A cigarette after another, one package after another, looking for enjoyment, but this pleasure lasts just a short time. Different organizations warn that smoking is hazardous to health, however for the smoker, the taste is what counts! Then he is forced to seek for another kind of pleasure. We had obtained nothing but we anxiously try to get more of the same.

Śrīla Atulananda Ācārya :
“Yoga and Current Era”
Instituto Superior de Estudios Védicos - ISEV
http://www.atulanandadas.cl/