“For Black families, cigarette smoking leads to premature deaths that translate into generations of lost parents and grandparents, our built-in support systems,” says Martha Dawson, president and CEO of the National Black Nurses Association.
“Due to the cost of cigarettes, tobacco industries are pulling wealth out of Black families, contributing billions to health care cost, and reducing family income due to lost work productivity.
While Black Americans constitute 12% of the U.S. population, they represent 15% of the extra smokers, 41% of the extra deaths, and 50% of the years of life lost due to menthol.
“If the same data and alarming results were demonstrated in the larger population, menthol cigarettes would be labeled a ‘public crisis’ and steps would be taken to reverse these trends. Smoking is a preventable chronic disease and the best solution is to not start; plus stop marketing and targeting the Black population.”
Source: “How Banning Menthol Cigarettes Can Help Black Families” by Noel Cody on the Essence magazine website. Article sponsored by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.