Tobacco companies have manipulated the menthol levels in cigarettes in recent years to hook new young smokers, a new study claims. The report by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health could fuel support for more tobacco regulation.

The new study states that young people tolerate menthol cigarettes better than harsher non-menthol cigarettes. The low-level menthol cigarettes make it easier to begin smoking but as smokers become more accustomed to menthol, they prefer stronger menthol sensations.

This is a deliberate plan by big tobacco companies to get younger people, especially African-Americans, hooked on smoking cigarettes, researchers claim.

More than 70 percent of African American smokers use menthol cigarettes, compared to 30 percent of white smokers, the study found, adding that 44 percent of smokers age 12 to 17 prefer menthol cigarettes.

According to the New York Times, menthol cigarettes currently make up about 28 percent of the $70 billion cigarette industry in America.

There is a bill pending in Congress which would give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate the contents of cigarettes. While the legislation would immediately ban many other flavors in cigarettes, menthol is exempted from such a ban.

The paper will be published in the September issue of the American Journal of Public Health.