“Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and inhuman.”
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., 1966 Convention for the Medical Committee on Human RightsThe tobacco industry decades ago launched a devastating campaign to target the Black community with its products, its primary tool being menthol cigarettes. This sustained attack has resulted in profits in the billions and the deaths of millions.
Menthol enhances the effects of nicotine on the brain, which makes tobacco more addictive and puts people at higher risk for tobacco-related disease and death.
Protect Our Health, Not Their Profits
$1 Million
The tobacco industry spends $1 million an hour on marketing its addictive products.
$4.7 Billion
In Wisconsin, the tobacco industry spends $161 million annually on marketing its addictive products. Tobacco costs Wisconsin $4.7 billion in health care and lost productivity, annually.
MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD
Help us let President Biden know why immediate action is needed to save lives and not the tobacco industry’s profits.
Together we can beat Big Tobacco
Join a Subcommittee that works on tobacco prevention related issues. Sign up for our Menthol or Health Equity and Social Justice Subcommittees.
Menthol’s Impact
Easier to Start and Harder to Quit
Menthol is a minty flavor that makes it easier to start smoking and harder to quit. Most kids who start smoking try menthols first.
Menthol is a Social Justice Issue
Improving health outcomes will require leaders to tear down the racial and social systems that have kept the tobacco industry in charge, with Black and other communities as their targets.
Tobacco-Related Disease and Death
A ban on menthol cigarettes will save lives. Eliminating menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars will help reduce addiction and youth initiation to tobacco. It will also help smokers quit and improve quit attempt outcomes.
