INTERVIEW
Menthol tobacco is prohibited for sale throughout Europe from this Wednesday. This is good news for health professionals and associations, who denounced the risks of these cigarettes created in the 1970s and 1980s to appeal to a younger and more feminine audience. Because these cigarettes, which leave smoky mint in smokers' mouths, are just as dangerous.
"The current ban is the culmination of a process started in 2014. The tobacco industry has put thousands of lobbyists to make this ban happen before. It has managed to obtain many delays", reminds the microphone of Europe 1 Bertrand Dautzenberg, pulmonologist and tobacco specialist at the Arthur Vernes Institute in Paris.
More dangerous cigarettes
"Menthol is an important ingredient in getting young people to smoke, irritating their throats less and making them cough less," he said. "But it's something that makes tobacco go deeper into the lungs, without that throat irritation that serves as a signal."
For this specialist, menthol cigarettes therefore promote a dangerous increase in tobacco consumption. "This pushes smokers to take larger doses. […] Menthol makes the body believe that cigarettes are a sweet product. It is a deception. It is a very good thing that it finally stops . "