An intersectional approach to the menthol cigarette problem: what’s race(ism) got to do with it?

Kong, Amanda Y.; Golden, Shelley D.; Berger, Michele Tracy

doi:10.1080/09581596.2018.1478066

Cited by 14 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…55 Addressing the use of menthol and its association with lower likelihood of smoking cessation among racial/ethnic minorities in the United States will require a multifaceted approach that is not ignorant of but rather is informed by historical and current social context. 56 From a policy perspective, banning menthol flavoring will likely have a favorable effect on smoking rates among black/African Americans in the United States. There remains a large disparity in the level of point-of-sale menthol marketing towards black/African American communities.…”

Section: Understanding and Addressing Menthol Use And Smoking Cessatimentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of Mentholated Cigarettes and Likelihood of Smoking Cessation in the United States: A Meta-Analysis

Smith

Assefa

Kainth

et al. 2019

Nicotine &Amp; Tobacco Research

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Introduction Previous qualitative reviews have summarized evidence of an association between menthol cigarette use and likelihood of smoking cessation. The objective of this meta-analysis was to provide a quantitative summary of effect sizes, their variability, and factors related to the variability in effect size for the association between menthol use and likelihood of smoking cessation. Methods We systematically searched Medline, PsycINFO, and Embase for prospective and cross-sectional studies of the association between menthol use and smoking cessation. We analyzed data with random effects meta-analyses and meta-regression. Results Our review identified 22 reports from 19 studies of the association between menthol use and cessation. All identified study samples included only US smokers, with one exception that included both Canadian and US smokers. Our overall model did not demonstrate a significant association between menthol use and cessation; however, menthol users were significantly less likely to quit among blacks/African American smokers (odds ratio = 0.88). Conclusions Among blacks/African Americans predominantly in the US menthol users have approximately 12% lower odds of smoking cessation compared to non-menthol users. This difference is likely the result of the tobacco industry’s ongoing marketing influence on the black/African American Community, suggesting that a menthol ban may have a unique public health benefit for black/African American smokers by encouraging quitting behavior. Implications This study adds a quantitative summary of the association between menthol cigarette use and smoking cessation in the United States. Findings of an association with lower likelihood of cessation among black/African American smokers, likely resulting from the tobacco industry’s marketing influence, support the ban of menthol flavoring as part of a comprehensive tobacco control effort to increase cessation among black/African American smokers.

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Section: Understanding and Addressing Menthol Use And Smoking Cessatimentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of Mentholated Cigarettes and Likelihood of Smoking Cessation in the United States: A Meta-Analysis

Smith

Assefa

Kainth

et al. 2019

Nicotine &Amp; Tobacco Research

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“…We can no longer ignore the intersecting, overlapping and distinctive systems of oppression that shape 'being black in America' and how menthol cigarettes contribute to sustained and widening health disparities. 20 This paper is compelling on its own merit; however, read in tandem with the authors' previous paper, 21 one can fully appreciate the significant role menthol cigarettes have played in addicting millions of young people to nicotine and in the deaths of thousands due to tobacco. As the authors emphasise, mentholated cigarettes have a 'significant detrimental impact on the public's health and could continue to pose a substantial health risk.…”

Section: What More Evidence Is Needed? Remove Menthol Cigarettes From the Marketplace-nowmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…Tobacco companies strategically targeted menthol cigarettes to low-income African Americans, blanketing inner city communities with marketing, free samples, and music promotions,19 and thereby contributing to the tobacco-related health disparities observed today, as Mendez and Le have now confirmed. We can no longer ignore the intersecting, overlapping and distinctive systems of oppression that shape ‘being black in America’ and how menthol cigarettes contribute to sustained and widening health disparities 20…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

What more evidence is needed? Remove menthol cigarettes from the marketplace—now

Yerger

2021

Tob Control

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“…Ongoing monitoring and surveillance of tobacco product sales following implementation of flavour policies is important for understanding short-term and long-term public health impacts of policies 44. Relatedly, retail scanner data can provide both detailed information on tobacco product characteristics and almost-real-time sales information, which can be used to evaluate consumer preference and product consumption after policy implementation as has been documented in San Francisco following implementation of a sales restriction on all flavoured (including menthol) tobacco products 16…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Expanding local sales restrictions on flavoured tobacco products to include menthol: retail sales changes in two Minnesota cities

et al. 2022

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BackgroundIn 2018, Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, expanded existing local sales restrictions on flavoured (non-menthol/mint/wintergreen) tobacco products (‘flavour policies’) to include menthol/mint/wintergreen-flavoured tobacco products (‘menthol policies’). All policies included exemptions for certain store types.MethodsWe obtained weekly retail tobacco product sales for 2015 through 2019 from NielsenIQ for convenience stores and other outlets in the policy jurisdictions and two comparison areas (rest of the state of Minnesota and total USA). We standardised unit sales across product categories and used NielsenIQ-provided descriptors to classify products as menthol (including mint/wintergreen) or flavoured (non-menthol/non-tobacco). Using single group interrupted time series models, we analysed unit sales by product category and by flavour separately for each geography to assess associations between menthol policy implementation and trends in tobacco product unit sales.ResultsFollowing menthol policy implementation, unit sales of menthol cigarettes and menthol smokeless tobacco decreased in both cities, with smaller decreases in comparison areas. Flavoured cigar sales—which decreased following the flavour policies—further decreased after the menthol policies, while sales of menthol electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) increased in both cities and sales of flavoured ENDS increased in St. Paul.ConclusionExpanding flavour policies to include menthol/mint/wintergreen was associated with significant decreases in unit sales of most menthol products and in total unit sales by tobacco product category. Increases in menthol and flavoured ENDS sales in these cities may be associated with legal sales by exempted retailers and/or illicit sales by non-compliant retailers, highlighting opportunities for retailer education and enforcement.

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An intersectional approach to the menthol cigarette problem: what’s race(ism) got to do with it?

Cited by 14 publications

References 33 publications

Use of Mentholated Cigarettes and Likelihood of Smoking Cessation in the United States: A Meta-Analysis

Use of Mentholated Cigarettes and Likelihood of Smoking Cessation in the United States: A Meta-Analysis

What more evidence is needed? Remove menthol cigarettes from the marketplace—now

Expanding local sales restrictions on flavoured tobacco products to include menthol: retail sales changes in two Minnesota cities

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