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FDA reviewing whether to ban menthol cigarettes

By Lyndsey Layton Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday,

March 31, 2010; A03

Federal officials began grappling Tuesday with one of the thorniest issues

surrounding the regulation of tobacco: whether to ban menthol, the most popular

cigarette flavoring, which is smoked by millions of Americans every day.

The issue carries great importance for public health advocates and tobacco

executives. But it also has racial implications, since menthol cigarettes are

overwhelmingly popular among African Americans.

A scientific advisory panel that will advise the Food and Drug Administration on

regulating tobacco opened a two-day meeting Tuesday and began reviewing hundreds

of published studies on menthol cigarettes. The panel, largely made up of

scientists, physicians and public health experts, has a year to make a

recommendation to the FDA on menthol cigarettes, which are used by about 26

percent of smokers and make up almost one-third of the $70 billion U.S.

cigarette market.

Menthol cigarettes are especially popular among young smokers. According to the

National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 62 percent of middle-school students who

smoke begin with menthol cigarettes, whose minty taste can mask the harshness of

tobacco.

About 75 percent of African American smokers use menthol brands, and tobacco

companies heavily advertise menthol products in black communities and media.

Many African American smokers view menthol cigarettes as " soothing " and

" smooth, " and less harsh and dangerous than regular cigarettes, according to a

2008 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But there is no

evidence that menthol cigarettes are less lethal than regular cigarettes.

Although African Americans smoke fewer cigarettes compared with white smokers,

they have higher rates of lung cancer, stroke and other tobacco-related

diseases.

" When you peel away the layers, this is an economic issue for the tobacco

industry, " said S. , executive director of the National African

American Tobacco Prevention Network, which wants the FDA to ban menthol

cigarettes. " We're talking about $18 billion a year; that's a serious hit for

them, " said in an interview.

When Congress passed a historic law last year that gave the FDA the power to

regulate tobacco, it also banned candy and spice flavorings such as chocolate

and clove, saying cigarette makers used those products to hook youngsters into a

lifetime addiction. But it exempted menthol from the ban, saying it wanted the

FDA to study the issue and report by 2012 whether restrictions on it would serve

the public health.

That prompted a letter of protest to Congress from seven former U.S. health

secretaries, who said that allowing menthol-cigarette sales to continue would

" trample the health " of African Americans. They called it a " loophole big enough

for a herd of wild animals to romp through. "

Lorillard, which makes Newport, the country's most popular brand of menthol

cigarettes, said in a statement Tuesday that menthol cigarettes are no more

dangerous to health than standard cigarettes. " Menthol, obviously, has been used

for decades in food, drink, cosmetics and other products, " the company said.

" And the science is clear and compelling that there is no differing health risk

between menthol and non-menthol products. With respect to public health, using

the best methods available to science, it is clear a menthol cigarette is just

another cigarette and should be treated no differently. "

But the scientific advisory panel has not yet reached that conclusion, and it

spent Tuesday listening to FDA staff members present their review of 343

research papers on menthol cigarettes, published between 1921 and 2009.

Under the law passed last year, the FDA can demand for the first time internal

studies and data from the tobacco industry. One of the advisory panel's goals

during its first meeting is to determine what additional information it will

request from the industry.

said that could be key in settling the debate about whether menthol

poses a particular danger to public health.

" We still have questions about the role of menthol, regarding initiation of

smoking and continued addiction and difficulty in quitting, " he said. " Under

this new law, the industry has to turn over documents at a level that's

unprecedented. They have to share their scientific information. When we begin to

know what they know, hopefully that will lead to a ban on menthol products. "

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/30/AR2010033003742.\

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