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Washington - A new study has found that manufacturers are deliberately manipulating menthol content in cigarettes to attract young people.

Researchers from Harvard School of Public Health found that the tobacco industry is intentionally adjusting menthol to create a milder experience for the first time smoker.

Menthol covers the harshness and irritation of cigarettes, allowing delivery of an effective dose of nicotine, the addictive chemical in cigarettes.

"For decades, the tobacco industry has carefully manipulated menthol content not only to lure youth but also to lock in lifelong adult customers," said Howard Koh, Professor and Associate Dean for Public Health Practice at HSPH and a co-author of the paper.

A team of researchers led Jennifer M. Kreslake, a research analysis from the Tobacco Control Research Program at HSPH analysed the internal tobacco industry documents on menthol product development, and conducted laboratory tests to measure menthol content in U.S. brands, examined market research reports

She also drew data from the 2006 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, an annual nationally representative survey among U.S. residents aged 12 years and older

The industry documents revealed that tobacco companies researched how controlling menthol levels could increase brand sales among specific groups.

The companies determined that products with higher menthol levels and stronger perceived menthol sensation suited long-term smokers of menthol cigarettes while milder brands with lower menthol levels appealed to younger smokers.

According to a 2006 study, 43.8 percent of current smokers aged 12 to 17 years reported that they used menthol cigarettes as did 35.6 percent of current smokers aged 18 to 24 years.

By contrast, 30.6 percent of smokers older than 35 years reported menthol use.

The authors suggest, "to protect the public health, tobacco products should be federally regulated, and additives such as menthol should be included in that regulation."

"This is another example of the cynical behavior of the tobacco industry to hook teens and African Americans to a deadly addiction. This is after the industry told the American public it had changed its marketing practices. The FDA bill provides the vehicle to end the hypocrisy and save the lives of the young and a targeted minority group," said Gregory N. Connolly, Professor of the Practice of Public Health and director of the Tobacco Control Research Program at HSPH.

The study appears in the online "First Look" section of the American Journal of Public Health.

Tobacco One, Inc. announced today that they have purchased a regionally popular cigarette brand from a Mexico City businessman for cash plus common stock. The previous owner will stay on as a consultant to Tobacco One, Inc. for a minimum two-year term.

The brand was first introduced in Mexico City in 2006. It remained a regional brand until recently when Tobacco One’s international marketing team finished a three-month feasibility study focusing on national expansion and consumer acceptance. During this study, Tobacco One in partnership with the Mexico City marketing firm Integra Marketing, S.A. de C.V. obtained numerous commitments that will result in expanded distribution nationwide.

Currently, the brand is sold throughout Mexico City in premier retailers. Recently, these global chains have authorized the brand to immediately expand to all of their locations nationwide. This new authorization will add approximately 90 club locations, 120 big-box style stores and 80 super-centers to the brand’s current base of participating retailers. This new rollout will feature the brand at over 4,000 cash register locations within these new stores. This program will be implemented during the months of July and August, 2008. Tobacco One, Inc. will provide the necessary resources and manpower needed to expand this brand into each targeted trade class in all major population centers throughout the country.

"Along with the new expansion, and the additional contracts currently under review, Tobacco One, Inc. expects unit volume over the next 12 months to exceed 200 million sticks (cigarettes) for the cigarette brand, resulting in revenues of over $12 million, and net earnings (EBITDA) of nearly $3 million or 25%," stated Shawn Ulizio, Tobacco One’s President and CEO. He continued, "The new brand is clearly positioned to be a market leader in Mexico’s newly emerging discount cigarette price tier, and Tobacco One is nicely positioned to dominate in this specialized tobacco category."

DUBAI— The Gulf emirate of Dubai on Saturday banned the sale of tobacco to anyone under the age of 20 with immediate effect and barred young people from public areas in which smoking is allowed.

The announcement was made in public advertisements in Arabic-language newspapers as part of a "Youth Without Tobacco" campaign.

A spokesman for Dubai municipality told AFP that cigarette vendors and managers of public places such as cafes and restaurants have been instructed to ask clients for proof of identity even to smoke water pipes.

Those breaking the law would be fined, he said without elaborating.

Before Saturday’s ban the sale of cigarettes in Dubai was prohibited to anyone under 18 and smokers were not allowed to light up in public places including hotels, restaurants, cafes and offices.

The campaign was launched to coincide with World No Tobacco Day on Saturday.

The World Health Organisation said on Friday that only a total ban on all forms of tobacco advertising can stop the "constantly mutating virus" of the marketing industry and protect vulnerable young people.

Dubai, one of the seven United Arab Emirates, is a regional tourism and business hub that attracts millions of visitors each year.

It just got harder to buy cigarettes in Ontario. Thanks to a law enacted this week, Ontario now joins the ranks of Quebec, Manitoba, the Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Prince Edward Island and Saskatchewan by banning the display of tobacco products in stores. Retailers have been forced to cover so-called "power walls" — the large displays of cigarette brands found behind the cash register at the local convenience store, gas station or supermarket — and customers must now pay for their smokes before they can legally touch them. Smokers are even prohibited from holding more than one pack of cigarettes at any given moment. This strikes us as a futile exercise. There is no doubt that smoking is extremely detrimental to health. The links between cigarettes and a litany of diseases, many of them fatal, is unquestionable: Lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema, impotence and even cataracts are all caused by smoking. Cigarette smoke leaves a trail of collateral damage, too: Research shows that secondhand smoking can lead to the same kind of health problems as smoking. Non-smokers who live with partners who smoke inside the home have up to a 30% increased risk of developing lung cancer, and those exposed to cigarette smoke in the workplace have an increased risk of up to 20%. But we do not believe that these real risks counsel for the absurd notion of diligently protecting customers’ delicate senses from perceiving tobacco products … until they’ve laid out some cash. Ontario’s government has reasoned that the new law will convince people to quit smoking, leaving fewer stroke victims and lung cancer patients taking up hospital beds. This argument fails to take into account the savings smokers create by not lingering into old age, when health care costs typically zoom into the stratosphere. But even setting the cold cost calculus aside, it is very hard to believe that keeping cigarettes behind a black curtain will do anything to dissuade people from buying them. If that were all it took to kick a nicotine habit, smokers would be flocking to drapery stores, instead of buying nicotine gum and patches. The Ontario government has succeeded in adding a financial and practical burden to retailers. But when it comes to reducing tobacco consumption, it is just blowing smoke.