Newly released report pulls data from NYS Cancer Registry, US Census and recent research
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Researchers from the Health Behavior Department at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center have released a report showing the potential impacts of eliminating the sale of menthol cigarettes in the City of Buffalo. Their analysis was uncovered from data sources including the New York State Cancer Registry, the United State Census Bureau and other recent research on the impact of menthol cigarette bans.
“The scientific evidence in this report points to a clear conclusion,” says Andrew Hyland, PhD, Chair of the Health Behavior Department at Roswell Park and Director of the New York State Smokers’ Quitline. “Eliminating the sale of menthol cigarettes will save hundreds of lives in our city, particularly among Black people, who smoke menthol cigarettes at a far higher rate than other people who smoke.”
Key findings:
- There are 144 deaths from lung cancer in Buffalo per year, including 41 deaths from lung cancer among Black people who live in the City of Buffalo per year. That means one Black person from Buffalo is lost to cigarette smoking almost every week, and for most of them, it was a menthol cigarette, designed to promote addiction and target marketed to them, that first got them hooked.
- A City of Buffalo ban on menthol cigarettes will prevent an estimated 734 premature deaths in the City of Buffalo, including 480 premature deaths among people who are Black.
“Tobacco’s influence in my family spans generations, tracing back to my great grandmother, and her mother on a Virginia tobacco plantation,” says Sarah Pearson-Collins, Director of Training, Development, and Support for the New York State Smokers’ Quitline at Roswell Park and owner of Race Card LLC, a platform dedicated to fostering candid discussions surrounding race, disparities, and discrimination. “From planting tobacco, to picking tobacco, to chewing tobacco and…
Read the full article here
