Ban on cigarettes required with menthol capsules

Cigarettes with menthol capsules are harmful to health

24/01/2012

Scientists at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) have called for a ban on cigarettes with integrated menthol capsules in the filter for the German market. According to the experts of the DKFZ on their demand for a prohibition, the relatively new types of glow sticks that are already widespread abroad are more harmful than conventional cigarettes.

Menthol cigarettes have been available on the German market for years. However, in the case of the novel tipping, the menthol flavor is not added to the tobacco, but is released by a capsule in the filter. The pressure on the filter adds a menthol flavor to the smoke, which is said to make the cigarettes tastier and easier to inhale, the DKFZ scientists said. For health, these novel cigarettes are far more harmful than previous cigarettes, which is why the DKFZ researchers plead for a ban on cigarettes with menthol capsules in the filter.

Cigarettes with menthol capsules in the filter with increased health risk
Tobacco is one of the most common addictive substances in Germany, and annually more than 100,000 people die from the (long-term) consequences of tobacco consumption, according to the German National Center for Addiction Issues. Nevertheless, new products are brought to the market time and again, which in some cases bring even more serious health risks than the conventional cigarettes. According to the DKFZ expert Martina Pötschke-Langer, Head of the Cancer Prevention Unit at the DKFZ in Heidelberg, one of these products is the cigarette with integrated menthol capsule in the filter. Pressure on the filter released the menthol flavor, which made the cigarettes tastier, facilitated inhalation, and made it seem less painful. By these effects, however, the smoke is absorbed significantly lower, which significantly increases the harmful effects of substances, explained Martina Pötschke-Langer. The DKFZ researchers also see the danger that previous non-smokers - especially young people - will be made easier to smoke.

Preserve population from health problems
Therefore, the scientists of the DKFZ in a statement on Monday in this country called for a ban on these in some countries already widespread cigarettes with Menthol capsule in the filter. In Germany, a similar development as in the US or Japan, where for some years more and more people resort to cigarettes with menthol capsules, be avoided in order to protect the population from far-reaching health problems, explained the DKFZ scientists. (Fp)

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