Menthol and Mint Experimental Tobacco Marketplace (ETM) Study

Summary

Menthol cigarettes comprise almost one-third of the United States (US) market share and are disproportionately smoked by racial minorities. Tobacco control policies targeting menthol flavoring in tobacco could have significant public health outcomes, especially among black smokers. One key challenge of tobacco regulation is weighing the risks and benefits of potential policies across different populations (i.e., users and non-users). Tension arises between policies intended to prevent adolescent and young adult (AYA) tobacco initiation and those intended to reduce harm among current tobacco users. The availability of menthol e-liquids may be important for encouraging menthol cigarette smokers to switch to e- cigarettes, but mint e-liquids, which are appealing to AYA, may be unnecessary to facilitate switching. Including mint e-liquids in flavor bans but allowing menthol e-liquids to remain on the market as potential substitution products for menthol smokers may be an optimal policy approach. The study team is proposing a lab study and field assessment to determine how including menthol and mint e-liquids in e-liquid flavor bans or sales restrictions affects tobacco product purchasing and use among menthol cigarette smokers. At lab sessions, participants will complete the Experimental Tobacco Marketplace (ETM) task, a behavioral economics task in which they receive account balances to an online store and can buy menthol cigarettes at escalating costs or buy e-liquids, non-menthol cigarettes, or nicotine replacement gum at fixed costs. They will complete the task under four marketplace conditions: (1) only tobacco e-liquids available, (2) menthol and tobacco e-liquids available, (3) menthol, mint, and tobacco e-liquids available, and (4) tobacco, menthol, mint, fruit, dessert. During a field assessment, product choice is validated by assessing use of products purchased during the ETM task. This proposal will inform policy-makers about the impact banning menthol and mint e-liquids will have on facilitating menthol cigarette smokers switching to e-cigarettes.

Conditions

• Cigarette Smoking
• Vaping

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Tobacco e-liquids

Marketplace includes tobacco flavored e-liquids

BEHAVIORAL

Menthol and Tobacco e-liquids

Marketplace includes menthol and tobacco flavored e-liquids

BEHAVIORAL

Mint, Menthol and Tobacco e-liquids

Marketplace includes mint, menthol and tobacco flavored e-liquids

BEHAVIORAL

All e-liquid flavors

Marketplace includes fruit, dessert, mint, menthol and tobacco flavored e-liquids

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Wake Forest University Health Sciences

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Rachel Denlinger, PhD, MPH · Wake Forest Health Sciences

Study Design

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Purpose

OTHER

Masking

NONE

Model

SEQUENTIAL

Eligibility

Min Age

21 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2021-06-21

Primary Completion

2022-12-29

Completion

2022-12-29

Countries

• United States

Study Locations