Menthol ban delayed again in the United States

The American organization Truth Initiative has expressed its concerns.[1] on the Biden administration’s delay in finalizing rules to remove menthol as a characterizing flavor in cigarettes and eliminate all characterizing flavors in cigars. The original deadline for these texts, set for August 2023, has been pushed back to March 2024.

In April 2021, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decided to ban menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars. This was the first step in a lengthy regulatory process to remove the affected products from the market. In early December, the White House updated its Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs website to indicate that a final menthol ban would not occur until March 2024 at the earliest. At that time, it was noted that it would still be years before menthol products disappeared from store shelves.

Public health experts fear that delaying the decision until an election year could result in the federal government once again failing to act on the issue.

A decade of waiting for a decision on adoption and application linked to constant opposition from the industry

The American Heart Association and other public health organizations, such as the American Lung Association and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (CTFK), have been calling for a ban on menthol tobacco products for more than a decade, a measure deemed essential in terms of public health.

In 2011, the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee concluded that stopping the sale of menthol cigarettes would improve public health. Then, in 2013, the FDA conducted an internal study that found that menthol reinforced addiction and dependence to tobacco and increased the likelihood that people would start smoking and become regular users.

For Yolonda Richardson, director of CTFK: “ There is absolutely no reason to delay implementing a measure that has been studied for more than 12 years and is essential to health equity and the President's Cancer Moonshot agenda. " The organization notes that the announcement of this delay comes just two weeks after the tobacco industry and several of its lobbyists encounter senior officials at the White House[2].

The Biden administration’s public regulatory meeting schedule shows that in the past month (November 2023), 41 meetings have been scheduled regarding menthol regulation; 38 were with representatives of the tobacco industry and its allies, while the other three were with representatives of public health organizations.

According to the latest data from the Federal Trade Commission, menthol cigarettes now account for 37% of the cigarette market and are consumed primarily by teens, young adults, women, and African Americans due to aggressive, targeted marketing by the tobacco industry. A menthol ban would have non-significant impacts on tobacco companies. Tobacco companies have made significant efforts at the state and local levels to fight restrictions on menthol and flavored tobacco products.

Health groups point out that this delay will inevitably result in more smokers and more lives lost. Between 1980 and 2018, the presence of menthol cigarettes on the market contributed to an additional 10.1 million smokers and caused the preventable premature deaths of 378,000 people in the United States.

Workarounds already in place in some states

Menthol cigarettes were banned in California, following a lengthy battle with the tobacco industry in 2022. New products containing synthetic cooling agents and explicitly labeled as “non-menthol” were then heavily promoted at tobacco retailers to former menthol smokers. These “cooling” cigarettes have packaging similar to that of traditional menthol cigarettes. The colors of these packages, such as bright green and blue, are typically associated with the marketing of various types of menthol products. Laboratory analyses of these products also showed that several synthetic cooling agents had been found in cigarette brands, mainly in the filters to evoke the “coolness” of the menthol flavor. These findings highlight the importance of implementing a complete ban and ensuring that the legislation is properly implemented to prevent any circumvention by the tobacco industry.

Keywords: Menthol, United States, ban, lobby, tobacco industry, interference

AE

[1] Press release, Truth Initiative Urges Swift Action to Prevent Delay in Removing Menthol and Cigar Flavors, Citing Serious Health Implications, Truth Initiative, published December 6, 2023, accessed December 12, 2023

[2] Press release, White House Delay in Finalizing Menthol Cigarette Rule Benefits Big Tobacco at the Expense of Black Lives, CTFK, published December 6, 2023, accessed December 12, 2023

[3] Tobacco-free generation, Tobacco Industry Strategies to Circumvent U.S. Menthol Ban, published on August 14, 2023, consulted on December 12, 2023