FDA Turns Its Focus to Menthol & Flavored Cigars

The agency says there is “strong evidence” that a menthol ban will help tobacco users quit

THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY could soon be saying goodbye to menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars.

On April 29, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced it is taking steps to ban menthol as a characterizing flavor in cigarettes, and ban all characterizing flavors — including menthol — in cigars within the next year.

According to the agency, there is “strong evidence” that a menthol ban will help tobacco users quit. The FDA pointed to studies that show menthol increases the appeal of tobacco and can lead to regular smoking, particularly among youth and young adults.

One study suggests that banning menthol cigarettes in the United States would lead an additional 923,000 smokers to quit, including 230,000 African Americans, in the first 13 to 17 months after a ban goes into effect, the agency cited.

“These flavor standards would reduce cigarette and cigar initiation and use, reduce health disparities, and promote health equity by addressing a significant and disparate source of harm,” said Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products. “Taken together, these policies will help save lives and improve the public health of our country as we confront the leading cause of preventable disease and death.” menthol cigarettes and all flavored cigars would only address manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, importers and retailers — not consumers who use or possess menthol products.

The agency’s focus on flavored tobacco products lags actions by individual municipalities and states. In June 2018, San Francisco voters approved Proposition E, which prohibits tobacco retailers from selling flavored tobacco products. The measure received 100,580 yes votes, compared to 46,452 no votes.

State legislators in California tried to expand that ban across the state, and Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation into law in August 2020. However, in November, the California Coalition for Fairness submitted more than 1 million signatures from registered voters in a bid to get a veto referendum to overturn the legislation, SB 793, onto the November 2022 ballot. That petition forced California lawmakers to put a statewide flavor ban on hold.

Currently, Maine is debating similar legislation and in Connecticut, the General Assembly’s Finance Committee revised legislation to prohibit the sale of flavored electronic cigarettes and vapor products in the state. The original proposal called for a ban on all flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes.

Massachusetts was the first state to implement a statewide flavor ban when its law went into effect on June 1, 2020.