Tag: menthol

Justice Advocates Plead to Keep Menthol Legal

Photo: Fractal Pictures
The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), representing more than 200 African American-owned community newspapers from around the United States, and leading Black and Hispanic law enforcement executives are urging the Food and Drug Administration to keep menthol cigarettes legal. The FDA must respond by April 29 to a citizen’s petition demanding menthol cigarettes be banned nationwide.
“It is clear that there is no factual basis to assert that a menthol cigarette ban will stop people of color from smoking,” says Benjamin Chavis, president and CEO of the NNPA. “In fact, the unintended consequences of such a racially discriminatory ban will set the stage for more negative and more likely counterproductive interactions between law enforcement and people of color.”
According to the NNPA and its fellow petitioners, daily interactions between police and people of color demonstrate that a menthol ban would give police pretext to approach a smoker to find out where cigarettes were purchased in order to get to the seller of the counterfeit tobacco.
“In recent times, the world has seen far too many cases of these encounters lead to verbal and physical altercations and often fatal results,” the NNPA wrote in a press release.
Such a racially discriminatory ban will set the stage for more negative and more likely counterproductive interactions between law enforcement and people of color.
Benjamin Chavis, president and CEO, NNPA
According to the U.S. Surgeon General report on smoking cessation, “the evidence is suggestive but not sufficient to infer that restricting the sale of certain types of tobacco products, such as menthol or other flavored products, increases smoking cessation, especially among certain populations.”
The organizations are requesting that the FDA exhaust all other options before completely removing menthol cigarettes from legal, regulatory channels.
The citizens’ petition demanding a menthol ban was filed by the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council and Action on Smoking and Health, which contend that tobacco companies have specifically targeted Black Americans with menthol cigarettes.
April 28, 2021
Activists Enlist UN to Press U.S. on Menthol

Photo: simisi1 from Pixabay
Health groups want the United Nations to pressure U.S. regulators to ban menthol tobacco products, citing evidence that manufacturers market directly to Black communities, reports Bloomberg.
Nearly 100 advocacy groups, including the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council, the American Heart Association and Action on Smoking and Health, will appeal to the U.N. Human Rights Council to restrict the marketing of menthol-flavored products in the U.S. on the grounds that Black Americans are targeted by tobacco companies.
“The decades of well-documented racialized and predatory tobacco industry targeting of African Americans, specifically with menthol flavoring, is a human rights issue,” the groups said in the letter to be sent on Wednesday.
The Food and Drug Administration is expected to unveil new regulations on menthol tobacco products on April 29 in answer to a lawsuit filed last year by the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council in which advocates argued the agency has repeatedly failed to act.
The likelihood of a ban on menthol cigarettes in the United States is increasing as the impact of menthol cigarettes on Black Americans becomes clearer, according to an article in The New York Times.
An estimated 16,000 Black Americans die from lung cancer each year, and deaths due to smoking are about 18 percent higher for Black people than white people, according to the University of California, San Francisco Smoking Cessation Leadership Center.
Congress has already banned all other flavors from being added to tobacco products.
April 22, 2021
U.S. Mulls Low-Nicotine Mandate/Menthol Ban

Photo: Tobacco Reporter archive
The Biden administration is considering requiring tobacco companies to reduce nicotine levels in all cigarettes sold in the United States, reports The Wall Street Journal. The nicotine-reduction policy would lower the chemical in cigarettes to nonaddictive or minimally addictive levels and aim to push smokers to quit or switch to less harmful alternatives, the newspaper said.
Meanwhile, a deadline is nearing for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to decide on whether to ban menthol cigarettes. The menthol ban would aim to curb smoking initiation among young people, many of whom start with menthol cigarettes.
According to the FDA, menthol cigarettes may be harder to quit than nonmenthol cigarettes, particularly among African American smokers. More than 19.5 million people reportedly smoke menthol cigarettes.
The tobacco industry has rejected the FDA’s findings on menthol, and both policies would take years to implement and would likely face legal challenges.
On April 12, 2013, health groups filed a petition calling on the FDA to ban menthol in cigarettes. Nearly seven years later, one of the co-signers, the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council, filed a lawsuit alleging, among other things, the FDA unreasonably delayed issuing a final response to the citizen petition.
The FDA agreed to issue a final response to the petition by Jan. 29.
Then, a supplemental petition with additional research on the alleged harms of menthol cigarettes was submitted in January.
After the additional information was submitted, the parties agreed to extend the FDA’s deadline to issue a final response to April 29.
Recent news reports suggest the likelihood of a menthol ban in the U.S. is increasing.
Shares of tobacco giant Altria Group plunged on Monday following The Wall Street Journal report, according to CNN.
“A ban on menthol cigarettes or reduction in nicotine levels would fundamentally disrupt the U.S. cigarette market and would be credit negative for Altria as it would significantly accelerate cigarette volume decline,” said Maria Iarriccio, vice president and lead analyst for Altria at Moody’s Investor Service.
“Approximately 20 percent of Altria’s cigarette sales are menthol flavored. Also, a reduction of nicotine levels in cigarettes would be challenged by tobacco companies in courts and would take years to resolve.”
“Altria is focused on growing alternative products in the U.S., such as oral tobacco, e-vapor through its Juul investment and IQOS heated-tobacco,” Iarriccio added. “However, these alternative products contribute a small part to Altria’s existing business and will not offset the material decline in revenue should a ban be implemented.
April 20, 2021
Menthol Market to Grow Despite Restrictions

Photo: simisi1 from Pixabay
Demand for menthol is projected to grow even as authorities restrict its use in cigarettes, according to a new report published by Transparency Market Research.
The authors of the study expect the market to reach $1.2 billion by 2030, partly because of the continuing popularity of menthol cigarettes.
Menthol is a crystalline organic compound that can be synthesized or derived naturally from plants such as peppermint, mint oil and corn mint. Menthol is utilized in an extensive variety of confectionary items, such as candies, cough drops and chewing gums, because of its high nutritional and medicinal value.
It is also utilized in pharmaceuticals, such as in inhalation items and ointments. Such extensive use of the product is estimated to foster growth of the global menthol market in the years to come. Menthol is traditionally extracted by collecting and processing mint leaves. Changes in climatic conditions, on the other hand, appear to affect the total supply of menthol and cause instability in the global menthol market in the near future.
Despite the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s continuing scrutiny of the health quotient associated with menthol, these products have stayed free from significant regulatory bans across the globe, resulting in steady development in the global menthol market. This trend is expected to continue throughout the assessment timeframe. Another major factor anticipated to augment market growth is high demand for menthol from the food and beverage sector. There is a growing demand for sweet-tasting flavorings, especially among the young adults around the world, which is likely to foster growth of the global menthol market in the years to come.
Menthol cigarettes have a sizable market share in the combustible cigarette market. Furthermore, the menthol market is expected to expand at a steady rate as a growing number of new smokers choose menthol cigarettes over traditional cigarettes. While sales of menthol cigarettes continue to rise year after year, increasing public awareness about the adverse effects of tobacco products and tobacco is predicted to stifle demand for menthol cigarettes later during the forecast timeframe.
In May 2020, the EU banned sales of menthol cigarettes. Critics have accused the tobacco industry of sidestepping the ban with innovative products. While cigarette manufacturers have developed alternatives for former EU menthol smokers, they insist their new products comply with the law.
According to a recent article in The New York Times, the likelihood of a ban on menthol cigarettes in the United States is increasing as the impact of menthol cigarettes on Black Americans becomes clearer.
April 7, 2021
Push for Menthol Ban Gains Momentum

Photo: Miriam Doerr | Dreamstime.com
The likelihood of a ban on menthol cigarettes in the United States is increasing as the impact of menthol cigarettes on Black Americans becomes clearer, according to an article in The New York Times.
Many public health advocates have been pushing for a crackdown on menthol cigarettes, but thus far no federal ban has been enacted.
Critics accuse the tobacco industry of marketing menthol cigarettes disproportionally to Black Americans, highlighting racial inequities. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Black smokers smoke less but die at a higher rate from heart attacks, strokes and other tobacco-related diseases than white smokers do. The FDA reports that 85 percent of Black smokers use Newport, Kool and other menthol brands. Menthol cigarettes are easier to become addicted to and harder to quit than plain tobacco, according to health advocates.
Covid-19 exposed the discriminatory treatment that Black people have been facing for hundreds of years. It’s precisely at this time that we need strong public health measures.
Phillip Gardiner, co-chairman, African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council

“Covid-19 exposed the discriminatory treatment that Black people have been facing for hundreds of years,” said Phillip Gardiner, a co-chairman of the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council, which has been pushing for menthol bans in communities across the country. “It’s precisely at this time that we need strong public health measures.”
Support for a menthol ban has been growing at various levels of government. Many states and municipalities have been passing laws at the state and local level to ban menthol cigarettes, and with many white parents supporting sweeping flavor bans, it has “brought new resources to the issue.”
The FDA is also under a court order to respond to a citizens’ petition for a menthol ban by April 29.

We opened the door on this in a Republican administration. You don’t think a Democratic administration will finish the business? Of course they will.
Scott Gottlieb, former FDA director
Many are hopeful that the Biden administration will move forward with a ban, looking to Biden’s past support of tobacco control measures.
“We are thinking about all of our options that could help reduce tobacco use and address persistent disparities,” said Kevin Munoz, a spokesman for the White House.
In 2018, Scott Gottlieb, FDA director under the Trump administration, announced that the FDA would enact a ban on menthol but was immediately opposed by North Carolina Senator Richard Burr, who represents a prominent tobacco-growing state. Burr later convinced the administration to kill the ban in 2019.
Gottlieb believes that the Biden administration will put a menthol ban in place. “We opened the door on this in a Republican administration,” he said. “You don’t think a Democratic administration will finish the business? Of course they will.”
March 22, 2021
Menthols Linked to Extra Smokers, Early Deaths

Photo: Photo: Miriam Doerr | Dreamstime.com
Menthol cigarettes contributed to 378,000 premature deaths in the United States between 1980 to 2018, according to a new University of Michigan study.
The research shows that about 10 million smokers were attributable to menthol cigarettes, which researchers estimate accounted for about 3 million life years lost.
“Our results indicate that mentholated tobacco products have had a significant impact on public health and could continue to pose a substantial health risk,” said David Mendez, senior author of the study and an associate professor in the department of health management and policy at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.
“We hope these data will help the Food and Drug Administration evaluate the potential regulatory actions for mentholated tobacco products.”
The study, published in Tobacco Control, indicates that the most important drivers of the relative impact of menthol cigarettes were the effects that menthol has in smoking initiation and cessation, said first author Thuy Le of the Department of Health Management and Policy at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health.
“Previous studies have shown that menthol experimentation is positively associated with progression to established smoking,” Le said. “In addition, menthol smokers are less likely to quit smoking than nonmenthol smokers. These observations were incorporated in the model and are the key factors in determining the outcomes of our study.”
For their study, the researchers calibrated a well-established model developed by Mendez and colleague Ken Warner, dean emeritus of the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Le and Mendez used the model in conjunction with National Health Interview Survey data and other public data sources to reproduce the overall U.S. adult smoking prevalence between 1980 and 2018 and associated mortality.
They then used the model again with adjusted parameters to reflect a scenario in which menthol cigarettes were assumed not to be present in the market over the same period. Finally, they compared both scenarios to quantify the public health harm attributable to menthol over the 1980 to 2018 period.
Mendez said they hope the FDA will look at this and other data as it evaluates potential regulatory actions for mentholated tobacco products.
Menthol cigarettes were created in 1925 and became widely spread in the 1950s and 1960s. In 2009, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act gave the FDA authority to regulate the manufacture, distribution and marketing of tobacco products. The FDA banned flavors such as candy, spice and fruit, but menthol was not banned.
In 2011, the Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee submitted a report to the FDA concluding that the removal of menthol cigarettes from the market would benefit public health. To date, the FDA has not taken any regulatory action on mentholated cigarettes.
February 26, 2021
Researcher Gets $1.3 Million to Study Menthol

Amy Cohn (Photo: University of Oklahoma)
The U.S. National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Tobacco Products have granted Amy Cohn, a researcher at the Stephenson Cancer Center at OU Medicine, $1.3 million to study menthol.
Cohn will investigate the link between menthol and young adults’ smoking habits. According to Cohn, young adults who started smoking with menthol cigarettes expressed a more positive experience than those who started smoking with nonmenthol cigarettes.
“Menthol cigarettes are disproportionately used by several at-risk populations, including African Americans, young people, Hispanics and women,” Cohn said in a press statement.
“There are a lot of hypotheses that a ban on menthol would reduce the public health impact of cigarette smoking, which we know is a very strong risk factor for cancer and other diseases. Our research will help the FDA make decisions in its regulatory efforts.”
October 6, 2020
Menthol Sales up After U.S. Flavor Ban

Photo: Photo: Miriam Doerr | Dreamstime.com
Sales in menthol e-cigarettes have risen since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidance banning flavors has gone into effect, according to an article in Tobacco Control.
Since Juul Labs has taken mint flavors off the market and the FDA has banned flavors other than menthol and tobacco, market shares of menthol-flavored e-cigarettes increased.
After Juul’s actions, there was a 59.4 percent increase in the market share of menthol products after four weeks, and after the FDA guidance, there was a 54.5 percent increase after four weeks and an 82.8 percent increase after eight weeks.
September 25, 2020
Ireland: Call to Strengthen Menthol Ban

Photo: Miriam Doerr | Dreamstime.com
The government of Ireland wants to strengthen the four-month-old EU ban on menthol cigarettes to stop tobacco companies side-stepping it. The Health Service Executive (HSE) is investigating tobacco companies over the issue.

Introduced on May 20, the EU measure aims to prevent “characterizing flavors” in cigarettes to make them less attractive to children and help smokers quit.

Japan Tobacco International (JTI) has admitted it still adds some menthol to products, including a new Silk Cut Choice Green that was among a suite of new brands it introduced into the Irish market after the ban. However, JTI insists it is in full compliance with the ban because, it claims, the additive doesn’t make its new brand taste or smell of menthol.

JTI’s new brands scooped up 5 percent of Ireland’s €1.8 billion ($2.12 billion) cigarette market in their first month, according to industry data.

After complaints from anti-smoking groups and rival tobacco companies that retired their menthol blends, the HSE said in June it would cooperate with European authorities on the issue.
Across Europe, tobacco companies have been introducing alternatives to their discontinued menthol brands. Governments have criticized tobacco companies for trying to get around the ban.

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly noted the directive is being reviewed at EU level and said he would strongly support any revisions to the directive that would ensure that the provision in relation to the menthol ban is “robust.”

The market for menthol cigarettes was worth €250 million prior to the ban.
September 8, 2020
PM: Irish Menthol Ad Was A Mistake

Peter Nixon, managing director of Philip Morris for the U.K. and Ireland.
Photo: Dave Parker
Philip Morris has told Irish retailers it made a mistake in labeling its new Marlboro Bright brand as a “menthol blend’ in a trade press advertisement, reports The Irish Times.

The company introduced Marlboro Bright after menthol cigarettes became illegal across the European Union on May 20. The new brand replaces the company’s old Marlboro Green cigarettes.

Writing in Retail News, Peter Nixon, the managing director of Philip Morris for the U.K. and Ireland, said the advertisement should not have run.

The ad for retailers had described Marlboro Bright as “the Marlboro menthol blend—without methylation.”

Nixon said “methylation” was a typo that should have read “without menthol.” He insisted Marlboro Bright is a traditional cigarette without menthol and thus in compliance with the ban.

Public health advocates have been watching the tobacco industry’s actions closely in the wake of the EU ban. Earlier, Japan Tobacco International (JTI) was criticized for continuing to use menthol during the manufacturing process of its Silk Cut Choice Green brand.

JTI insisted this is legal as long as the additive does not result in a characterizing smell or taste in the cigarettes other than tobacco.

The Health Service Executive is investigating if any tobacco companies are in breach of the menthol ban.

The Irish market for menthol cigarettes was worth €250 million ($282.82 million) prior to the ban.
June 23, 2020