Regulators are considering a ban on menthol tobacco and may change the way Philadelphia smokes

Last week, outside the strawberry mansion corner store, two friends smoked and considered their options when federal authorities tried to ban their chosen cigarettes.

After finishing the menthol cigarette in Newport, 44-year-old Jason Lawson said, “I think I have to quit.”

His friend, Kareem Coates, was less enthusiastic about ending the habit of more than 20 years.

“I’m going to buy a big bag of menthol cigarettes,” he said, “and roll myself.”

The Food and Drug Administration announced it last month Trying to ban Menthol tobacco and flavored cigars.about 85% of American Black SmokersLike Lawson and Coates, smoke menthol— one third For sale of all cigarettes nationwide.

Proponents of the ban say it will help alleviate health inequality. Philadelphia is one of the largest smoking countries in the United States and has the fifth highest incidence of lung cancer in the counties of Pennsylvania. National Cancer Institute.. According to the Philadelphia Public Health Service, tobacco use kills about 3,700 people in the city each year. This is more Philadelphia than those killed in COVID-19 in 2020 or 2021.

The ban does not affect e-cigarettes or cigarettes used in hookahs.

Philadelphia fought a battle similar to tobacco and was defeated. Four years ago, the city tried to ban flavored tobacco products, Court decision The city mistakenly replaced state law. The federal ban would have gone far beyond the ban on cities that did not support menthol tobacco.

“We were in a small town in Philadelphia, far from the class of fighting big cigarettes in Pennsylvania and the country,” said Curtis Jones, Jr., a councilor who introduced the law. “Now it’s a top-down proposal, so it might be the right weight class.”

Menthol makes smoking a more comfortable experience. Mentha-flavored compounds paralyze the airways and reduce smoke roughness.

“That’s a big change,” Coates asked if he would switch to a brand other than menthol. “They don’t even have the same taste.”

Ryan Kofman, Tobacco Policy and Management Program Manager at the Philadelphia Public Health Service, said the sedative effect encourages people to inhale deeper and increases their likelihood of addiction.Menthol too Increase the effect of nicotine In the brain. These cigarettes make tobacco more attractive to new customers, like the flavored cigars the FDA is trying to ban.

“The data available show that young people who start menthol products are more likely to use tobacco daily and on a regular basis,” Kofman said.

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Elliott Harris, 70, discovered menthol at the age of 18 and served in the United States Navy. The boot camp included a suspension of duties called “smoke and cola.” He remembered when a man had a cigarette and Coca-Cola.

The 44-year-old Coates remembered his first cigarette 21 years ago. It wasn’t menthol, he hated it.

“My first cigarette came from a white boy,” he recalled. “When I started smoking with my black brother, it was menthol.”

Floyd Jackson, sitting on an electric scooter with Coates and Lawson, said it’s hard to find smokers, mostly in Black Strawberry Mansions, who didn’t like menthol.

“Everyone around here is smoking Newport,” he said. “If they aren’t smoking Newport, they’re smoking cool.”

Jackson, 65, quit smoking when his 21-year-old daughter was born. His sister, a Philadelphia police officer who was able to smoke two packs of cigarettes just by trimming his hair, died of that habit.

“Cancer does bad things to you,” he said.

Coates, who was recently diagnosed with COPD, lost his brother to lung cancer. Lawson remembered that of her grandmother’s 16 children, only two were still alive. Others died of cancer.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention regularly reports that smoking is the cause of the three most common causes of death among African Americans — Heart disease, cancer, stroke.. Pennsylvania has the 20th highest incidence of lung cancer in the country, but ranks 7th among African Americans. National Cancer Institute..

Black customers have been the target of menthol marketing since the 1960s, with initiatives such as free cigarettes in the community, active advertising campaigns in black publications, and signs in black neighborhoods. increase. RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company developed its playbook in Philadelphia in 1990. UptownAccording to the SmokeFreePhiladelphia initiative of the City Health Department. The campaign has ended due to community backlash.

The proposed menthol ban raised the issue of discrimination. In a letter to the White House last month, Rev. Al Sharpton said the proposal “exacerbates existing boiling problems with racial profiling, discrimination, and policing.” NAACP But I support the ban.

“The tobacco industry is pursuing profits, and they have killed us along the way,” the organization said in a news release.

Almost half of Latin smokers smoke menthol, 41% of Asian smokers smoke, and 30% of Caucasians. FDA report..

Philadelphia has fewer smokers than it was ten years ago, but the proportion of men and women remains higher than the national average. Smoking is even more common among the poor Philadelphians. Tobacco use was the most common cause of preventable deaths in Philadelphia in 2018, former city health commissioner Thomas Farley told the city council that year.

According to the report, an estimated 17% of Pennsylvania residents and 13% of New Jersey residents are smokers. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention..

Cigarettes with flavors other than menthol were banned nationwide in 2009, but health experts say the market has shifted to cigars with fruit and candy flavors. Currently, about 500,000 young Americans use flavored cigars. FDA report..

According to Jones, children’s protection was offered in the same cartoon-designed packaging as candies, and was sold near sweets in some stores in the city’s 2018 ban on flavored cigars. It was the driving force of the initiative. In 2018, according to Farley, the proportion of teens in cities that smoked cigars increased from 6% to 10.5% between 2011 and 2015, almost tripled among black teens. became.

Andrew Strasser, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania and director of the Institute for Biological Behavior and Smoking at the Perelman School of Medicine, said:

Jones, whose father died of lung cancer, remembered a fierce backlash from both the tobacco industry and shopkeepers.

“Lobbyists have fallen upon us,” he said, and they were able to postpone the bill a year before it was passed in 2019. The court ruling came shortly after. Lobbyists and small business owners are already expected to oppose the FDA’s actions. Reach out to the White HouseThe Associated Press reported.

In Pennsylvania, the tobacco business is booming, with farmers growing £ 23 to £ 25 million annually, said Greg Seamster, vice president of sales for Lancaster Reef Tobacco Company. .. Some of the state’s varieties are popular as cigar wrapping paper, allowing farmers to generate $ 8,000 to $ 10,000 in tobacco sales per acre.

“It can affect Pennsylvania in a very big, negative way,” he said of the ban.

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His company is a member of the American Cigar Association and will work to oppose the rules during public comments until July 5. May be delayed Year due to proceedings.

“I always feel that I live in the United States where we have the right to choose what we put in our body,” Seamster said. He disputed the idea that flavored cigars were designed to appeal to children. “I’ve always seen the government go a little too far and tell us what they think we have to use.”

Store owners in some cities are prepared for lost sales. Luisa Carbral, a clerk at Ridge Supermarket on Ridge Avenue, said her store would miss up to 30 packs of menthol cigarettes sold daily. At the Sai Gas Station, also on Ridge Avenue, co-owner Abdul Omar said he was more concerned about the loss of flavored tobacco sales than menthol tobacco.

“If they are reduced, it will have a big impact on my business,” he said.

He also suspected that people who wanted to smoke would give up their habits if their favorite brand disappeared.

The FDA’s proposed ban cites a model that eliminating menthol tobacco could reduce smoking nationwide by 15% in 40 years and prevent deaths of up to 654,000. Menthol smokers are less likely to quit smoking than those who smoke non-menthol brands, Strasser said.

Navy veteran Harris said he might quit if menthol was banned. But he also remembered that he couldn’t find his favorite brand when he was in the Marines.

“I know when I was working and couldn’t get menthol,” he said. “I smoked Marlboro.”