FDA plans to ban menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars

FDA plans to ban menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars

 

Much of public health’s attention has been focused on the pandemic, but on Thursday the US Food and Drug Administration took action on another public health crisis: making plans to ban menthol-flavored cigarettes and all flavored cigars, including menthol flavor, within the next year.    The aim is to "significantly reduce disease and death" from using these two products. Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.   Studies show that menthol flavoring increases the appeal of tobacco products and can lead people, particularly young people, to become regular smokers. Advertisers of menthol-flavored cigarettes have disproportionately targeted the Black community.   Menthol flavoring is also believed to be more addictive and harder to quit. One study showed that if menthol was banned, within a little over a year, it would lead 923,000 smokers to quit, including 230,000 African Americans.   Menthol-flavored cigarettes are considered a "tremendous public health threat" for kids, according to the Tobacco Free Kids organization. Pediatricians have long called for a ban on flavored tobacco products, including menthol. For novice smokers, the taste of a cigarette can be too harsh, whereas, flavors make it easier for beginners to try the product.