The big news from the US Food and Drug Administration last week was a ban on menthol in combustible cigarettes, closing off a loophole that had allowed this one flavour to be marketed even after all others were forbidden.
It may not happen any time soon – the agency’s cautiously-worded announcement said only that it is “working toward issuing proposed product standards within the next year”, language that allows for plenty of delay – but it must now be inevitable.
Menthol had long been a glaring and irrational exception to the overall prohibition of flavours, and the spotlight that has been shone on the situations of minorities in the United States over the last couple of years made it all the more so.
Though the original reasons for menthol’s disproportionate popularity among African American smokers seem lost in the murk of history, there is no doubt that harm associated with these products was being done particularly to certain sections of society, including lower-income groups and LGBT people as well as African Americans.
Barnaby Page – TobaccoIntelligence – 2021-05-07.
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