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Washington – 29 April 2021
1. People smoking in the city, African American man smoking cigarette
Charlotte, North Carolina – 25 July 2007
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2. File photo, packs of Kool cigarettes are shown at Charlie's Tobacco Outlet in Charlotte, N.C.
Los Angeles – 29 April 2021
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3. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Karen Beard, Certified Tobacco Treatment Specialist:
"Banning menthol cigarettes now will take these products off the market. It will also mean that the tobacco industry can no longer target African Americans with these mentholated cigarettes. We see that as a great move toward getting all tobacco products out of the community."
Washington – 29 April 2021
4. African American woman smoking outside of Washington DC Union Station
Los Angeles – 29 April 2021
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5. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Karen Beard, Certified Tobacco Treatment Specialist:
"They wouldn't do what they do if they weren't making money out of it. It's not that there's no rhyme nor reason, they did a lot of research to identify markets that would be easy to get into and that they could make a lot of money."
San Francisco - 17 May 2018
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6. File photo of packs of Newport cigarettes displayed at Ted's Market in San Francisco.
Raleigh, North Carolina - 26 July 2006
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7. Kool cigarettes, made by Reynolds American Inc., line the shelves at Smoker Friendly in Raleigh, N.C.
Houston – 29 April 2021
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8. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Jin Ho Yoon, UT Health, McGovern Medical School:
"We know the impact is pretty clear. It's estimated that half of Black smokers wouldn't be smoking were it not simply for the availability of menthol cigarettes."
Washington – 29 April 2021
9. Various, African American man smoking, talking on phone outside train station
Houston – 29 April 2021
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10. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Jin Ho Yoon, UT Health, McGovern Medical School:
"It makes people smoke cigarettes easier, right? It smoothens the experience, so what ends up happening is people take bigger drags, they absorb more nicotine. And in the end that's the name of the game for cigarettes, they want find a way to have take in as much nicotine as possible."
Washington – 29 April 2021
11. Various people on street, African American man smoking
U.S. health regulators pledged again Thursday to try to ban menthol cigarettes, this time under pressure from African American groups to remove the mint flavor popular among Black smokers.
The Food and Drug Administration has attempted several times to get rid of menthol but faced pushback from Big Tobacco, members of Congress and competing political interests in both the Obama and Trump administrations. Any menthol ban will take years to implement and will likely face legal challenges from tobacco companies.
Thursday's announcement is the result of a lawsuit filed by anti-smoking and medical groups last summer to force the FDA to finally make a decision on menthol, alleging that regulators had "unreasonably delayed" responding to a 2013 petition seeking to ban the flavor.
Dr. Karen Beard, a psychologist who is trained in smoking cessation, said it's potentially a big victory for Black public health.
"Banning menthol cigarettes now will take these products off the market," Dr. Beard said. "It will also mean that the tobacco industry can no longer target African Americans with these mentholated cigarettes."
Dr. Jin Ho Yoon, a psychiatrist and behavioral sciences professor UT Health McGovern Medical School in Houston, said menthol cigarettes were targeted at African Americans because flavored tobaccos get smokers to consume more nicotine. He's studied smoking rates in communities of color.
"We know the impact is pretty clear. It's estimated that half of Black smokers wouldn't be smoking were it not simply for the availability of menthol cigarettes," Dr. Yoon said.
The deadline for the agency's response was Thursday. The FDA said it aims to propose regulations banning the flavor in the coming year and declined to speculate on when the rule would be finalized.
The action would also ban menthol and fruity flavors from low-cost, small cigars, which are increasingly popular with young people, especially Black teens.
Menthol is the only cigarette flavor that was not banned under the 2009 law that gave the FDA authority over tobacco products, an exemption negotiated by industry lobbyists. The act did, though, instruct the agency to continue to weigh banning menthol.
The flavor's persistence has infuriated anti-smoking advocates, who point to research that menthol's numbing effect masks the harshness of smoking, likely making it easier to start and harder to quit.
The mint-flavored cigarettes are overwhelmingly used by young people and minorities, particularly Black smokers, 85% of whom smoke menthols. That compares to about a third of white smokers.
