When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned child-friendly flavors in cigarettes in 2009, it didn't include menthol cigarettes. That was unfortunate because, like cherry and mocha, menthol hides the harsh taste of tobacco.
The FDA is expected to right that wrong this week by proposing to ban menthol cigarettes altogether, while also imposing new restrictions on the sale of flavored e-cigarettes at gas stations and convenience stores. Anti-smoking advocates say that a rule banning menthol cigarettes, provided it is not watered down or undermined, would be the most important tobacco reduction action the FDA has ever taken. Today, about a quarter of all the cigarettes sold are mentholated.
Half of all smokers under 18 choose menthols, according to the FDA, perhaps because the light minty taste makes it easier to ignore the health-destroying damage done with each inhalation--and also because advertisements for menthol cigarettes are especially common in publications targeted to young people.
Menthol cigarettes may also be harder to quit, as one 2009 study concluded. It noted that the cooling sensation of the menthol encourages smokers to inhale more deeply, which increases the amount of nicotine consumed--which in turn increases the smoker's addiction. It's an insidious cycle.
The FDA needs to stay strong as it pushes these new regulations through; there will inevitably be blowback from the tobacco industry. Cigarette companies, worried about losing revenues from a menthol ban, could respond in a variety of worrisome ways. For instance, if the FDA doesn't include cigars and cigarillos in the menthol ban, then the tobacco companies could simply mentholate them as a replacement product.
Smoking is an addictive and dangerous habit, and while the FDA lacks the authority to ban tobacco use outright, it has the right--and indeed the responsibility--to make it less attractive and less accessible to young people. This might do it.
Editorial on 11/15/2018