More than half of adults within the United States agree with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) proposal to ban the sale of tobacco merchandise within the nation.
A research printed within the journal Preventing Chronic Disease on Thursday confirmed that majority of U.S. adults assist insurance policies prohibiting the sale of menthol cigarettes and different tobacco merchandise.
For the research, researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) surveyed 6,455 adults in 2021 to evaluate their assist for industrial tobacco retail insurance policies within the nation.
After analyzing the info, the workforce discovered that greater than half, or 62.3% of the respondents, supported banning menthol cigarettes. Meanwhile, 57.3% supported the banning of tobacco merchandise.
The researchers famous that their findings may assist inform federal, state and native efforts to ban the sale of tobacco merchandise, scale back tobacco use and advance well being fairness.
The survey was performed earlier than the FDA proposed a ban on menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars in April final 12 months, in line with CNN.
Cigarette smoking has declined in recent times. But the most recent figures nonetheless attribute it because the main reason for preventable illness, incapacity and demise within the U.S., accounting for greater than 480,000 deaths yearly.
The CDC recorded that in 2020, about 13 in 100 adults aged 18 and above smoked. This translated to 30.8 million grownup people who smoke within the nation. At the identical time, 16 million Americans had been recognized with a smoking-related illness.
In its proposal, the FDA announced that it needed to ban menthol as a “characterizing flavor” in cigarettes and different flavors in tobacco merchandise to forestall kids from attempting cigars and cigarettes.
“The proposed rules would help prevent children from becoming the next generation of smokers and help adult smokers quit,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra mentioned in an announcement printed alongside the proposal’s announcement.
“Additionally, the proposed rules represent an important step to advance health equity by significantly reducing tobacco-related health disparities.”
The new research highlighted how most adults additionally need to have a nationwide ban on menthol cigarettes and tobacco merchandise.
“Our findings are generally consistent with previous research showing support for menthol cigarette sales prohibitions, including among population groups historically targeted by unjust marketing practices and with a high prevalence of menthol cigarette use (eg, non-Hispanic Black adults),” the CDC researchers wrote.