Examine refutes {industry} claims that ban on menthol cigarettes results in elevated use of unlawful smokes

A brand new analysis examine has discovered that banning menthol cigarettes doesn’t lead extra people who smoke to buy menthols from illicit sources, contradicting claims made by the tobacco {industry} that the proposed ban of menthol cigarettes within the U.S. by the Meals and Drug Administration (FDA) will result in a major enhance in illicit cigarettes.

Researchers on the Worldwide Tobacco Management (ITC) Coverage Analysis Venture on the College of Waterloo evaluated the influence of federal and provincial menthol cigarette bans in Canada by surveying people who smoke of menthol and non-menthol cigarettes earlier than and after Canada’s menthol ban.

People who smoke had been requested whether or not their typical cigarette model was menthol-flavored and to report their final model bought. Those that had been nonetheless smoking after the menthol ban had been additionally requested the place they final bought their cigarettes.

Outcomes confirmed that after the ban, there was no important change within the buy of cigarettes from First Nations reserves, the principle supply of illicit cigarettes in Canada.

“The tobacco {industry} has a protracted historical past of claiming that insurance policies to scale back smoking will result in substantial will increase in illicit commerce,” stated Dr. Janet Chung-Corridor, a analysis scientist for ITC and lead writer of the brand new examine. “We will add the Canadian menthol ban to the lengthy checklist of efficient insurance policies, akin to graphic warnings and plain packaging, whose analysis disproved the scare techniques by {industry}—displaying that illicit commerce didn’t, the truth is, enhance.”

A 2022 examine that mixed the ITC Venture information with information from a comparable Ontario analysis examine confirmed that the Canadian menthol ban led to a rise of seven.3 % in quitting amongst menthol people who smoke above that of non-menthol people who smoke. Projecting this impact to the U.S., whose Meals and Drug Administration (FDA) has proposed its personal menthol ban, the ITC researchers estimate {that a} U.S. menthol ban would lead 1.33 million people who smoke to stop.

“Our earlier analysis from Canada and the Netherlands confirmed {that a} menthol cigarette ban results in important reductions in smoking,” stated Dr. Geoffrey Fong, principal investigator of the ITC Venture and professor of psychology and public well being sciences at Waterloo. “These findings mix to supply highly effective proof in assist of FDA’s proposed menthol ban.”

Smoking continues to be the number-one preventable reason behind illness and dying around the globe. Well being authorities, together with the World Well being Group, have lengthy referred to as for banning menthol in cigarettes as a result of they promote smoking. Canada was one of many first international locations to ban menthol cigarettes, with greater than 30 international locations implementing related bans thus far.

The examine seems within the journal Tobacco Management.