In the recent past, college-educated blacks were less likely to smoke cigarettes than similarly educated whites. Now the reverse is true.

By John Payton Related links Counterpoint:Banning Menthol Cigarettes Will Create a Huge Illegal, Contraband Market Lorillard’s Orwellian Assertion: Slavery Is Freedom Before we can analyze whether banning menthol as a tobacco flavor would lead to a market in contraband menthol cigarettes we must first clarify our terminology. Contraband market: That term is today used to [...]

By Jessie Lee
A contraband market of illicit and unregulated cigarettes will be inevitable – and large – if the government bans menthol cigarettes. Illegal menthol cigarettes will find their way to consumers.

By John Payton
As the Food and Drug Administration considers evidence on the deadly impact of menthol cigarettes, Lorillard Tobacco Company is apparently repositioning itself as a civil rights organization—fighting for “freedom of choice” for African Americans by opposing efforts to ban menthol as an ingredient in cigarettes.

By TaRessa Stovall
When Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton apologized on Friday, October 1, to the nation of Guatemala for the United States government’s use of hundreds of their citizens as guinea pigs in the 1940s, millions of Americans—particularly African Americans—had a flash of déjà vu. And few were surprised to learn of common links between the two medical travesties.

By Janet Singleton
It can take your money, your health, and even your life. Yet in the black community mental illness is not taken seriously.

By George E. Curry
Medical trials now underway in the very region most ravaged by the virus hold the best prospect of finally controlling the disease for which there is no known cure.

By TaRessa Stovall
A trio of new products designed to protect against rape and STDs, especially HIV/AIDS, raises questions about the gaps and conflicts between scientific progress, lifestyle logistics and human nature. These recent developments also call into question the age-old role of Black bodies as test sites for potential progress.

By The Editors
Researchers in South Africa announced this week the development of a vaginal microbicidal gel that in clinical trials has sharply reduced the possibility of women contracting H.I.V. from infected partners.

By Stacey Patton
Supporters have argued that the sugar tax would generate a projected $1 billion annually for healthcare programs and encourage New Yorkers to cut out sugary soda and fruit drinks that are major contributors to obesity.