Could FDA Panel Conflict of Interest Endanger Menthol Cigarettes?

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If you ban menthol cigarettes you would have to ban menthol itself i know for a fact that one could take an open pack of non menthol cigarettes and place them in a plastic bag that contains menthol and the next day you would have menthol cigarettes. Try it and with any other band flavor that is as volatile as menthol.

Gary Shelar of NC 9:04AM July 21, 2010

I started smoking at the age of 21. If it weren't for someone handing me a menthol cigarette, I would not have smoken for 20 years and I would not have emphazema. If banning menthol cigarettes can save even a small percent of people from diseases associated with smoking be them black or white, I say ban them!
As for the advertising, I'm sure these companies don't necessarily ask their customers what race they are but it doesn't take an idiot to collect info from other sources in order to do heavy advertising! Next time you walk down the street, take note of all the black people who smoke...what kind of cigarette are they smoking...I'd say 9 out of 10 are smoking a menthol. Why? IDK but if I worked for these cigarette companies in their advertising dept, I'd find out what area's were densly populated with blacks and advertise it to death...it is all about business and making money! I bet more than 90% of people who work for these cigarette companies don't smoke and to them it's about bringing home a paycheck at the end of the week.
Adding more tax to the cigarettes will only make an addicted person pay more money. Where exactly is all this extra tax going? I have finally quit smoking after many failed attempts. Cigarettes cost $2.00 a pack when I started and $8.75 when I quit~i kept paying the increases because I was ADDICTED. So again I ask, where is all this extra tax money going?

Cookie of NY 11:16PM July 20, 2010

Hey if they get rid of menthol I won't smoke anymore so it will make america healthier

james smith of AK 9:42PM July 14, 2010

first of all, ajura, people smoking cigarettes realize the health risks. its all about the money, and always has been and always will be. people have been smoking tobacco and marijuana for hundrends of years and will continue to for quite some more time. now since smoking has become one of the biggest markets in the world today, everyone wants a hand it. its the physics of supply and demand. put this "tax" on any other, any other, market in the world and this would crumble in an absolute heartbeat. bumping from 20% to 47% in their pocket for every pack of cigs sold is absolutely absurd. now my question is this, where the hell does that money go? call it sin tax and then where does all the "sin taxed loot" go? to commit some more sin and scandals possibly?
my uncle died and before he did had one of those robot throats, several people i know have died or have issues from smoking.its quie clear today that smoking is bad for you. those truth commercials, even on the damn box it says warning. the cowboy died for reds. we get it.
and with all this hoopla about that outlandish, outrageous lawsuit that Marlboro had lost to whatever desperate bitch for saying that "i thought i would get less cancer by smoking lights" congrats to finding the biggest loophole on this side of the corner of the richest but poorest nation on earth. for every dollar she won, she should get punched in the face from every cigarette smoker in america.
now heres a question, doesnt alcohol have ads on tv every other 10 seconds, esp on a football game, and that kinda ruins lives too. drunk/underage driving issues in america? kinda big. divorces. biggest reason why they happen. babies being born? that could have a total say in that outcome. kidney disease? why are cig ads banished and their companies under fire for killing people while across the street the alcohol companies are robbing the bank?
last observance, the constition was written on hemp paper. our highest law is written on something that is now outlawed. this nation was grown on tobacco, alcohol (prohibition just made the kennedys rich) and yes,even marijuana. the money is bigger than all that though. its what makes the world go round.

drew logue of PA 1:06AM June 16, 2010

Just because a few states grow tobacco,and make money from it. We can not outlaw the growing and sale because the farmers and government would lose income from it. Ironically,The government cknowleged 'war on drugs' has been a total failure, cannabis is not a 'drug' it is a benign hallucinogen herb it does not sicken or damage health. I could go on and on. Better yet check out Chris Conrad's book 'Hemp for Health'and get the whole story.

Henry of AZ 5:00PM June 14, 2010

Having the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) complain about the FDA's conflict of interest is rich in irony. ACSH received funding from polluting/poisioning industries and acts as a mouthpiece for those industries now. ACSH also once solicited major tobacco companies for funding. The tobacco companies declined. ACSH refuses to disclose current funding sources. Talk about a conflict of interest.
Even more rich in irony is Philip Morris (Altria) complaining about the FDA's conflict of interest. Altria is a criminal enterprise, convicted of federal racketeering charges in 2008. Part of their conviction was based upon their collusion with other tobacco companies to attempt to discredit the science that clearly showed tobacco smoke was a serious health hazard.
Also rich in irony is the fact that representatives of the tobacco industry now sit on the FDA panel that oversees implementation of the Family Smoking Prevention and Control Act. How many of the aforementioned groups have protested such an obvious conflict of interest here? Certainly not Altria.
Eliminate the real conflict of interest and remove the tobacco company representatives from the FDA tobacco panel. Nor do we need representatives of convicted criminal enterprises sitting on government panels.

Keith of OH 10:30AM June 10, 2010

"Cause of Death: Nicotine poisoning." Do coroners ever note that fact on death certificates? Nicotine is one of the worst poisons because it's so easy to get. The tax on it means it's accepted as a desirable item of commerce. The tax means that many lawmakers from tobacco-growing states demand federal subsidies to help tobacco farmers. Sir Walter Raleigh did great harm when he introduced nicotine to the Old World. Natives here used it in "peace pipes" probably because it gives a temporary '"high," but it can cause sleeplessness & tension. Maybe some war parties left for a raid while warriors were having a nicotine low. Three smoking relatives died slow, painful deaths. All were on oxygen, in wheelchairs. One had emphysema, the others made themselves lung cancer victims. The man said every truck driver smoked. The women said they began smoking to be like friends. Nicotine use causes vast public debt at public hospitals. It increases numbers of orphans & broken families. People burn to death & blocks of houses are destroyed when smokers fall asleep with cigarettes going. Nicotine should not be accepted as a desirable item of commerce. It is as bad a poison as cyanide..just takes longer but the result is death.

ajura dawnveirs of CA 6:07PM June 09, 2010

One of my relatives, addictively ihhaling nicotine, died in a horrible way with emphysema..meaning not able to breathe deeply. Each breath was misery because the nice little lung sacs were almost filled with liquid when all of them were needed to keep her body served with oxygen. She spent many years trapped in her wheelchair with the oxygen tube her tie to life. It extends life, but the work and worry of oxygen tanks & tubes means there is always a "potential emergency" if there is any letdown of 24 hour full attention. It must have caused clinical depression, but she tried very hard "not to be a burden to her children & relatives." I was always repelled by the dirty air & stink of tobacco. She began its use "because so many of her friends smoked." An older pair of relatives gave themselves lung cancer from smoking. As inlaws, my family helped to bear some of the costs & much worry as they went to oxygen-equipped deaths, hooked to intravenous feeding. Nicotine is one of the worst poisons. It is so bad that nobody should be able to make & sell it to be used in any form. It can be used as an insecticide. What does that tell us? "Ide" always means killing.

ajura dawnveirs of CA 5:43PM June 09, 2010