# Menthol Cigarettes make you sterile ?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/menthol-cigarettes-make-you-sterile/18774>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 6, 2000, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/menthol-cigarettes-make-you-sterile/18774 "2000-05-06T20:28:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Matteoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@Matteoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Matteoz)\
**Post date:** [May 6, 2000, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/menthol-cigarettes-make-you-sterile/18774/1 "2000-05-06T20:28:11Z")

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Is it true that smoking menthol cigarettes can make you sterile ? Alot of my friends say that everytime i smoke menthol cigarrettes. Is there any medical proof to answer my question ?

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**Author:** ![coosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@coosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coosa)\
**Post date:** [May 7, 2000, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/menthol-cigarettes-make-you-sterile/18774/2 "2000-05-07T07:29:38Z")

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Well, I don’t have a medical source for this, although maybe someone who does will come along. But, for what it’s worth, I think common sense can pretty much answer your question.

If menthol cigarettes made people sterile, there wouldn’t be much of a market for condoms, contraceptive foam and/or diaphragms, IUDs, birth control pills, Norplants, vasectomies, tubal litigations, etc.

Third world countries with serious overpopulation problems would be passing out menthol cigarettes like candy and beads at a Mardi Gras parade.

Maybe smoking in general lowers your sperm count, but it must not be by much because my dad was a 3-pack-a-day smoker and sired seven kids.

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**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\
**Post date:** [May 7, 2000, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/menthol-cigarettes-make-you-sterile/18774/3 "2000-05-07T07:37:09Z")

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I posted this before, but it ended up in the wrong thread. Here goes nothing:

[Snopes](http://www.snopes.com/spoons/legends/menthol.htm) has covered this before. Their conclusion: “Menthol cigarettes are no worse for you than any other type. Mind you, that’s not exactly heartening news.”

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**Author:** ![coosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@coosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coosa)\
**Post date:** [May 7, 2000, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/menthol-cigarettes-make-you-sterile/18774/4 "2000-05-07T08:00:11Z")

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AAARGH! What a missed opportunity!

biblio, I saw your post in the other thread and assumed it was a mistake (wrong thread). Just think, if I’d clicked on it and seen what it was about, I could have stolen your thunder, posted the link here, and looked smarter than I actually am!

Drat!

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**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\
**Post date:** [May 7, 2000, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/menthol-cigarettes-make-you-sterile/18774/5 "2000-05-07T14:49:21Z")

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Your friend got it wrong. It’s not that menthol cigs make you sterile, it’s that smoking in general can cause impotence.