Under a profit making strategy, tobacco companies are playing away with the amount of menthol in cigarettes to hook the youngsters. They follow a rule: more the menthol, the better it is. They use the menthol as a cover to fill the toxins in the veins of youngsters, chiefly African-Americans, a new study has revealed.

The new found study indicates that the flavor of menthol gives a pleasant sensation to the young smokers.

Dr. Gregory Connolly, senior author of a paper called American Journal of Public Health contends that we simply can’t shut down our eyes to this bitter reality, industry just can’t manipulate the levels of menthol like this as this would increase addiction to smoking in younger generation resulting in premature death of millions of Americans.

Menthol by nature is a non-addictive substance but nicotine is highly addictive that is presented to the smoker in a soothing wrapper of menthol.

According to the study, funded by The American Legacy Foundation and the U.S. National Cancer Institute, menthol cigarettes are smoked by more than 70 percent of African-American smokers while 30 percent fall in the category of white smokers.

As per study authors, it’s still not clear if the menthol cigarettes are equally or more harmful than the "regular" cigarettes.

The issue is of urgent consideration and something needs to be done immediately to stop this practice.

A bill that empowers the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to keep a check on levels of menthol and other additives in cigarettes is due in Congress. Once the bill is passed, FDA will be able to take strict actions against this malpractice.

In a news release, John R. Seffrin, chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society said "this study provides evidence of one of the many ways tobacco companies manipulate the ingredients in cigarettes in an effort to entice and addict new consumers."

Connolly, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health and his colleagues brought into being that menthol cigarettes were popular among African-American teens and they used the mentholated cigarettes at higher rates as compared with older African-Americans. "Surprisingly, we found that Caucasian teens smoked menthol at higher rates than expected, indicating that hip-hop was moving into the suburbs."

The malpractice is a clear violation of the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) which restricts the industry from selling the product directly or indirectly to youths.

On the other hand, David Sylvia, a spokesman for cigarette maker Philip Morris USA, completely rejects the findings of the study.

“We disagree with their conclusion that menthol levels in our products were manipulated to gain market share among adolescents, and are unable to find any evidence supporting that conclusion within this study,” he said.