US vows again to ban menthol flavor in cigarettes
Matthew Perrone
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON U.S. health regulators pledged again Thursday to try to ban menthol cigarettes, this time under pressure from African American groups to remove the mint flavor popular among Black smokers.
The Food and Drug Administration has attempted several times to get rid of menthol but faced pushback from Big Tobacco, members of Congress and competing political interests in both the Obama and Trump administrations. Any menthol ban will take years to implement and will likely face legal challenges from tobacco companies.
Thursday’s announcement is the result of a lawsuit filed by anti-smoking and medical groups last summer to force the FDA to finally make a decision on menthol, alleging that regulators had “unreasonably delayed” responding to a 2013 petition seeking to ban the flavor.
U.S. vows again to ban menthol flavor in cigarettes, cigars
A ban has powerful foes, would take years to implement and would face legal challenges from the tobacco industry.
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This May 17, 2018 photo shows packs of menthol cigarettes and other tobacco products at a store in San Francisco. U.S. health regulators will announce a new effort Thursday to ban menthol cigarettes,Ã according to an Biden administration official. [ JEFF CHIU | AP ]
Updated 2 hours ago
WASHINGTON â U.S. health regulators pledged again Thursday to try to ban menthol cigarettes, this time under pressure from African American groups to remove the mint flavor popular among Black smokers.
WASHINGTON U.S. health regulators pledged again Thursday to try to ban menthol cigarettes, this time under pressure from African American groups to remove the mint flavour popular among Black smokers. The Food and Drug Administration has attempted several times to get rid of menthol but faced pushback from Big Tobacco, members of Congress and competing political interests in both the Obama and Trump administrations. Any menthol ban will take years to implement and will likely face legal challenges from tobacco companies. Thursday s announcement is the result of a lawsuit filed by anti-smoking and medical groups last summer to force the FDA to finally make a decision on menthol, alleging that regulators had unreasonably delayed responding to a 2013 petition seeking to ban the flavour.
The deadline for the agency’s response was Thursday. The FDA said it aims to introduce the regulations banning the flavor in the coming year. With these actions, the FDA will help significantly reduce youth initiation, increase the chances of smoking cessation among current smokers, and address health disparities experienced by communities of color, low-income populations, and LGBTQ+ individuals, all of whom are far more likely to use these tobacco products, acting FDA Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock said in a statement.
The action would also ban menthol and fruity flavors from low-cost cigars, which are increasingly popular with young people, especially Black teens.
“We will save save hundreds of thousands of lives and prevent future generations from becoming addicted smokers,” said Dr. Janet Woodcock, the FDA s acting commissioner.
She cited research estimates that banning menthol would prevent 630,000 tobacco-related deaths over 40 years, more than a third of them among African Americans.
Menthol is the only cigarette flavor that was not banned under the 2009 law that gave the FDA authority over tobacco products, an exemption negotiated by industry lobbyists. The act did, though, instruct the agency to continue to weigh banning menthol.
The flavor’s persistence has infuriated anti-smoking advocates, who point to research that menthol’s numbing effect masks the harshness of smoking, likely making it easier to start and harder to quit.