FDA to ban menthol cigarettes, cigars

The Food and Drug Administration is expected to release its plan to ban menthol cigarettes and cigars.

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The Associated Press reported last week that the plan, according to the FDA, would potentially save hundreds of thousands of lives and stop billions of sales of tobacco products.

Menthol products account for more than a third of the U.S. cigarette market, the AP reported.

Tobacco lobbyists, anti-smoking advocates, civil rights groups, small business owners and conservative think tanks have been speaking with the Biden administration about the proposed plan.

Civil rights advocates have said that the tobacco industry had aggressively marketed menthol tobacco products to Black communities, The Washington Post reported.

The FDA has proposed prohibiting flavors from being used in cigars, including cigarillos that are popular among teens, the Post reported.

The plan was announced by FDA commissioner, Robert Califf, as he appeared before a congressional subcommittee.

Califf said that the agency determined “that these actions are appropriate for the protection of public health” and that the moves would improve health and “reduce the mortality risk of current smokers of menthol cigarettes or flavored cigars by substantially decreasing their consumption and increasing the likelihood of cessation,” the Post reported.

Not all agree on the full ban, however.

“We believe harm reduction, not prohibition, is the better path forward. Taking these products out of the legal marketplace will push them into unregulated, criminal markets that don’t follow any regulations and ignore minimum age laws,” cigarette manufacturer Altria said, according to the Post.

The ban will not go into effect immediately.

The FDA will first seek public comment and then write the final rules. The agency is also expected to give manufacturers time to stop production. Court challenges are also expected, the Post reported.

The FDA has tried to ban menthol tobacco sales several times but had received push back from Big Tobacco, members of Congress and political debate under both Democratic and Republican administrations, the AP reported.

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