The F-D-A today announced a plan to ban menthol cigarettes. Gene Nicholls with Minnesotans for a Smoke-free Generation applauds the decision. He says the tobacco industry has been marketing to people of color for more than a half-century and adds “quite frankly it’s going to begin to save the lives of many many African Americans, especially who have gravitated toward menthol after years of product marketing for that community and a number of other communities.” Nicholls says in the 1950s about 10% of black smokers used menthols and today it’s up to about 85%. Nicholls calls the FDA’s decision a “game changer” and says, “I think now we have to focus on what do we do and how do we help those that will struggle to end the scourge to end the addiction that they have to this product.”