Interesting to read the new legislation out of congress that supposedly will discourage smoking amongst the young. As the New York Times reports today, public health experts are questioning why menthol, the most widely used cigarette flavoring and the most popular cigarette choice of African-American smokers, is receiving special protection as Congress tries to regulate tobacco for the first time. Yet they are banning clove and cinnamon flavored cigarettes because these are increasingly being smoked by teenagers. Wonder if it's got anything to do with the fact that menthol cigarettes make up more than one-fourth of the $70 billion American cigarette market and are becoming increasingly important to the industry leader, Philip Morris, without whose lobbying support the legislation might have no chance of passage. Not to mention that they are major contributors to the campaign funds of many members of congress.
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