The Tuskegee Study was a government study of the effects of syphilis on black men in Tuskegee, Alabama infected with the disease. The study was allowed to continue even after penicillin was discovered as a treatment and long after they'd realized the study was providing no new information about the disease. 399 blacks were allowed to die by rotting from the inside out.
The recent tobacco regulation signed into law has created a study that affects blacks in a much more harmful and dispersed manner. The FDA has been charged with performing an 18 month study on menthol - (a cigarette additive in 90% of all cigarettes made in this country) even though all other flavored cigarettes were banned, including cloves. Blacks overwhelmingly prefer menthol cigarettes(80%). 80% of black teenagers(90% of all tobacco addictions begin in teen years or earlier) prefer menthol cigarettes. These black youth are being allowed access to a product that are designed for youths specifically to get them addicted so they can rot from the inside out.
You see the FDA is forced by the new law to wait 18 months to study menthols, but the law has already banned other flavors that aren't nearly as popular with children. Most middle schoolers who smoke choose menthols.
I'll make some points of comparison below where these two studies are similar -
Tuskegee Syphilis Study(TSS) 1. Government study of a disease directly impacting blacks.
Food and Drug Admin Study(FDA)1. Government study of a contributor(menthol) to a disease( addiction, tobacco related illnesses) directly and disproportionately impacting blacks.
TSS 2. Led to the deaths of 128 victims(28 directly due to syphilis, 100 due to related diseases)
FDA 2. 18 month study will delay actions on menthol resulting in hundreds of thousands of children becoming addicted to a manipulated menthol cigarette that Harvard has proven Tobacco companies "deliberately adjusted" the menthol levels of "to recruit and addict young smokers by creating a milder experience for the first-time smoker"
3,000 kids a day start smoking
Menthols make it easier. Given that a majority of middle schoolers prefer menthols. Let's just call it 50%, and the FDA study is 18 months(365x1.5) at 3,000 kids a day and over 50% are menthol smokers--that's 821,250 kids.
TSS 3. Government knew there was a cure and did nothing. Actually, they went out their way to keep the victims out of the draft so they wouldn't be treated.
FDA 3. Government knows menthols are used to hook children and does nothing. They went out of their way to do nothing.
If only you could cure the disease of nicotine addiction with antibiotics like you can with syphillis. For all you white folk and higher SESs, menthol use is spreading to a neighborhood near you.
Here's Obama preparing to sign the law. At 00:55 he mentions "flavored cigarettes to mask the taste of tobacco" - Watch as he's signing, you may notice 2 of the four children are african american, one appears to be latina .
To all those who say menthol isn't in jolly ranchers or pudding(as some kossers have)..you're right..it's only in toothpaste, mouthwash, coughdrops, mints, peppermints, chewing gums,things like that. Nothing self conscious teenagers have ever used since they could stick things in their mouths...oh wait...Menthol is the perfect flavor for teens. They've been primed since early childhood to put menthol in their mouths.