Menthol cigarettes smokers may be shocked to hear that European Union will implement a ban on menthol cigarettes due to its adverse impacts on public health.
As study results suggested menthol cigarettes pose significant health impacts, the European Union has adopted a new Tobacco Products Directive to decide whether all 28 EU countries agree to ban menthol cigarettes by 2016.
In Hong Kong, statistics have shown that menthol cigarettes account for 26 per cent of market share and most of the menthol cigarettes smokers are youths, women or people who started smoking with menthol cigarettes.
Compound menthol is used to flavour cigarettes which triggers our cold-sensitive nerves and creates a “cool” feeling which wraps the unpleasant smell of tobacco.
The appeal of menthol cigarettes among youths comes from the misconception that they are less harmful than normal cigarettes due to the minty flavour.
“Around 60 per cent of smokers buy menthol cigarettes,” said Ms Queenice Yu Cho-kwan, a shop assistant at 7-11.
Among the buyers, most of them were adolescents or female and she even saw people who were under 18 attempted to buy menthol cigarettes, said Ms Yu.
Mentholated cigarette is the gateway for juveniles to start smoking as the minty flavour stimulates sensations of smoking such as throat irritation and minty aftertaste.
“I thought it contains less nicotine and tar but it is not the truth. The smell is covered by mint which make smoking more pleasant,” said Ms Zero Chow, 27, a smoker who started smoking with menthol.
The health impact depends on the amount of nicotine and tar in a cigarette despite the flavour added in it, said Dr Leung Ka Lau, representative of medical sector of Legislative Council.
For example, Marlboro Menthol contains 0.8mg of nicotine per cigarette which is 0.2mg more than that of Marloro Gold Original.
Tobacco contains over 7,000 chemicals including more than 70 carcinogens despite the flavour of a cigarette.
“All tobacco products are deadly and addictive in any disguise, regardless of the packaging and flavour they are presented to the public,” said Ms Faine Chan Wai-fan, Project Manager of Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health.
She said menthol or other flavoured cigarettes lure people especially the youth to smoke by masking the distasteful smell of tobacco and facilitating inhalation.
Likewise, a recent research conducted by University of Waterloo has shown that menthol cigarettes are as deadly as other unflavoured cigarettes which contain similar amount of nicotine and tar.
Published in a journal, Cancer Causes and Control, the research has also shown the relationship between mentholated cigarettes and higher risk of cessation failure and increased nicotine addiction.
Menthol cigarette smokers smoke an average of 43 per week which almost double the 26 smoked by regular cigarette smokers, the research found.
“Mentholated cigarettes are really easy to inhale and I smoke more frequently without knowing it,” said Ms Chow.
Menthol smokers were about three times more likely to continue smoking in the coming years, according to the research.
“From my experience, quitting mentholated cigarette is quite difficult,” said Mr Benson Tsang Yi-kei, a former smoker.
He paid lots of effort to quit as the exciting and “cool” feeling of smoking minty cigarettes was tempting, said Mr Tsang.
The prevalence of menthol cigarettes which hinders the prevention of smoking among adolescents has become a growing concern.
Despite the impacts on public health, there is a controversy over the ban on menthol cigarettes.
“I think the impact of menthol cigarettes is not too significant so there is no need to implement a ban on them,” said Dr Leung.
It seemed impossible to ban mentholated cigarettes as there were so many menthol smokers. People would find a way to produce them to satisfy the demand in the market, said Ms Chow.
She took rising tobacco tax as an example, saying more people buy illicit cigarettes and there must be a similar result after banning menthol cigarettes.
Though the possibility of banning menthol cigarettes was low, Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health still urged the government to control the sale of menthol cigarettes to protect public health, said Ms Chan.
The lack of enforcement, partly because there is not much concrete evidence concerning the health consequences of menthol cigarettes relative to non-menthol cigarettes.
The ongoing research and investigations are expected to provide a clearer picture of the health impacts of menthol cigarettes in order to protect public health.
Rainie Lam 