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Tammy W. couldn’t breathe. He was running 10 miles a day when he felt a sudden constricting sensation in his chest. He went to see his doctor and learned that he needed open heart surgery right away.
The news surprised Tammy, who prided herself on living a healthy lifestyle. She had never thought that the “side hobby” of smoking menthol cigarettes (a common habit, she said, among members of the Little Travers Bay Bands of Odawa Indians to which she belonged) could have such dramatic health consequences. her.
Tammy underwent open heart surgery at age 44. During the operation, she collapsed three times and suffered a stroke. She has recovered but can no longer run as far as before.
“I can’t forget my mom’s eyes,” Tammy says in a video interview, her voice breaking. “I told her, ‘Mommy, I promise I won’t make you bury me if I have the option.’”
Tammy is one of 45 former smokers (who were not identified by last name) sharing their stories as part of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s national campaign. Advice from ex-smokers campaign, which resumed on Monday. The campaign shares stories like Tammy’s on television and radio, online and in print across the country to encourage people to quit smoking.
Tips from Ex-Smokers is the first federally funded national tobacco education campaign. He Original version It ran between 2012 and 2018 and resulted in 16.4 million smokers trying to quit, 1 million of whom succeeded, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention surveys.
“While adult cigarette smoking has decreased, it remains the leading cause of preventable disease, disability and death in the United States, and some groups continue to be affected more than others,” said Dr. Deirdre Lawrence Kittner, director of the CDC Office on Smoking and Health, said in a news release.
This new version of ads includes seven stories that place special emphasis on the harms of menthol cigarettesthat have become particularly prevalent among historically marginalized communities and have contributed to worsening tobacco-related health disparities.
Although the number of people who smoke cigarettes in the United States has fallen to one of the lowest levels in history, the proportion who smoke menthol cigarettes has been increasing.According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Young people, racial and ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+ people, women, low-income people, and people with mental health problems are more likely to smoke menthol cigarettes than other groups, the agency says.
Menthol masks the taste and smell of cigarettes and anesthetizes the throat, making it easier to inhale the smoke. It also enhances the effects of nicotine on the brain and can make cigarettes even more addictive, according to the CDC.
Tobacco companies have marketed menthols to first-time consumers and historically marginalized groups, such as African Americans and people who identify as LGBTQ+.
“These tactics included event sponsorship, magazine advertising, providing free samples, and increased point-of-sale marketing activities in certain neighborhoods,” said Dr. Daniel Giovenco, assistant professor of sociomedical sciences at the Mailman School of Public Health. of Columbia, who was not involved in the new campaign, wrote in an email to CNN. “For example, menthol cigarette ads appeared disproportionately in magazines with large black readers, and menthol cigarette companies once sponsored major music events like the Kool Jazz Festival.”
Industry efforts toaggressively market menthols towards black smokers have borne fruit.A 2020 studyshowed that although 43% of all adult smokers smoked menthols, more than 83% ofblack smokers did.
“Tobacco companies target people like me with their marketing of menthol cigarettes. Realizing this made me angry enough to quit,” said Angie P., another former smoker who participated in the CDC campaign. “This should make everyone angry.”
He The federal government is now considering a ban.about menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars.
In October, the US Food and Drug Administration took whatanti-smoking groupscalled a “momentous” stepsending final ruleson the ban on menthol cigarettes to the White House for review. However, the issue has stalled since it was presented to the White House Office of Management and Budget.
This delay has frustrated anti-smoking groups who see it as an example of politics getting in the way of public health.
“In an extremely disappointing end to 2023, the White House bowed to pressure from the tobacco industry and failed to move forward in 2023 with finalizing rules to remove menthol as a signature flavor from cigarettes and ban all signature flavors from cigars. ” wrote the American Lung Association. in its annual report on the status of tobacco control. “This lack of action prioritizes politics and tobacco industry profits over public health and the White House’s failure to finalize the rules.”
Smoking kills more than 480,000 Americans each year, and 16 million Americans live with at least one serious smoking-related illness, according to the CENTERS FOR THE CONTROL AND PREVENTION OF DISEASES.
Banning menthol cigarettes would save up to 654,000 lives in the United States over 40 years, including the lives of 255,000 members of the black community.found a 2022 study.
Blacks die at significantly higher rates than whites from smoking-related diseases such as stroke, heart disease, and lung cancer; Blacks make up 12% of the U.S. population, but the community accounts for 41% of smoking-related premature deaths and 50% of the years of life lost associated with the use of menthol tobacco products among 1980 and 2018.one study found.
If menthols were banned, the gap between black and white lung cancer deaths would close within five years.according to a study by the Council on Foreign Relations.
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The tobacco industry and other groups that are against federal prohibitionThey say the rule will increase the potential for criminal charges in black communities and create an underground market.
However, Giovenco noted that the regulations would not penalize the use or possession of menthol cigarettes, only companies that make or sell products that do not meet the standards.
“It is no surprise that the industry fails to recognize how its own targeted and exploitative marketing practices are directly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Black Americans,” he said. “The proposed ban is supported by virtually all major medical and public health associations, as well as many prominent civil rights and social justice groups, who understand the devastating health toll caused by menthol cigarettes.” and flavored cigars.”
CNN’s Jen Christensen contributed to this report.