It's interesting they chose flavored cigarettes and not flavored alcohol. The attack specifically on menthol is meant to target the major users of the product. Its not about the kids. And its not about righting some wrong by cigarettes advertisers. This is meant to target the people who use the product.
Whether there’s data to show that these effects are significant enough to justify a ban specifically on menthols, however, I don’t know.
They are just as bad as regular cigarettes, possibly worse, and yet people perceive them as less bad, causing overconsumption.
I have known many menthol smokers and have spent most of my life around smokers. I have literally never once heard the opinion menthol was somehow safer. In fact, I have often heard the opposite; with claims that the menthols have "fiber glass" in them.
“Menthol makes it seem less harsh, and also makes the body absorb more nicotine,” she said. “That means it’s easier to start smoking and harder to quit.”
So not more dangerous per se, but it mitigates barriers to its consumption.
At the time, people argued not including menthol in the ban was racist.
In fact, when Obama's FDA banned fruit- and candy-flavored cigarettes there was a group of black doctors who called on him to also ban menthol cigarettes. [2]
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/14/health/menthol-cigarettes... [2] https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/black-doctors-call-obam...
It's intresting they chose flavored cigarettes and not alcohol. One is a greater public safety issue than the other. The fact that they chose something so innocuous is the dead giveaway, that there is ulterior motive.