FDA to Ban Menthol Cigarettes

     The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced today that it will soon ban menthol tobacco cigarettes, as well as all flavored cigars, to protect the health of children and other communities who smoke them.

     Perhaps because menthol is used in tobacco products to create a cooling sensation in the throat, making it easier to inhale the smoke and nicotine, half of all kids start smoking with menthol cigarettes, said Harold Wimmer, the president of the American Lung Association, who called the ban, “game-changing.”

      Because the vast majority of adult smokers start smoking as teenagers, experts say a ban on menthol has the potential to dramatically reduce the number of people who begin smoking.

      "With these actions, the FDA will help significantly reduce youth initiation and increase the chances of smoking cessation among current smokers," said acting FDA Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock said in a statement.

       Although the FDA did not mention banning menthol-flavored electronic cigarettes, public health experts applaud the move.

       "The FDA has taken a historic, lifesaving step," Dr. Richard Besser, president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and former acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, wrote in a statement. "Banning menthol cigarettes will most assuredly save lives, eliminate great suffering, and reduce health care costs."

Photo by: Paweł Czerwiński via unplash