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.”

  • stolid_agnostic@lemmy.ml
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    8 months ago

    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.

    • MagicShel@programming.dev
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      8 months ago

      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.

        • MagicShel@programming.dev
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          8 months ago

          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.

          • stolid_agnostic@lemmy.ml
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            8 months ago

            And yet someone with real data posted something that says that tobacco actually causes more deaths. I presume that yours was the one downvote.

            • MagicShel@programming.dev
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              8 months ago

              Nah. I rarely downvote unless someone says something exceptionally stupid. I might argue that deaths is a narrow way to measure, but it’s certainly valid and facts are facts. I’m glad that was posted.

              • stolid_agnostic@lemmy.ml
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                8 months ago

                For the record I’m not attempting to disagree with you. When you add in the collateral toll that alcohol takes, its impact may indeed be greater than tobacco. I was referring specifically to the toxicity of cigarettes. Although there is likely a safe amount of alcohol you can consume, there is no safe level of smoking you can take on. My comments have been confined specifically to this area.

    • freeindv@monyet.cc
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      8 months ago

      The real priority is to work to eliminate the power of public health to dictate private life choices.