Eighty national public health groups, including the American Heart Association, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Preventative Medicine, placed a full-page ad in Sunday’s edition of the Washington Post in support of a federal ban on menthol in cigarettes and all flavored cigars.
“The answer is clear,” the full-page ad says. “Saving lives starts by ending the sale of menthol cigarettes and all flavored cigars.
“Smoking kills nearly half a million people in the United States each year, and these addictive, deadly products are a big part of the problem. The FDA and White House have our full support to release lifesaving rules prohibiting menthol cigarettes and all flavored cigars.”
You do have a point but the danger is far higher on the tabaco side. Priorities and such, we won’t see anything like that for quite some time.
Is it though? I’m pretty sure alcohol is the most destructive legal drug there is. But prohibition didn’t go so great last time so don’t take that as a call to start banning sweet alcohol, I just disagree with the assertion that tobacco is worse.
According to global statistics, Alcohol was responsible for 5% of global deaths, while tobacco squeaked past with 8% of global deaths.
I’m suggesting that the negative health effects are more pronounced with tobacco.
And I disagree. I’ve been around a lot of barely functioning alcoholics in my life. But this isn’t me arguing that you’re flat out wrong, just questioning it because it doesn’t line up with my experience.
The real priority is to work to eliminate the power of public health to dictate private life choices.
