The Food and Drug Administration will act on two long-awaited proposals to ban menthol in cigarettes and cigars this spring, the agency announced Thursday in an update on its efforts to address tobacco-related health disparities.
The proposed actions, which were first announced in April 2021, would prohibit menthol as a characterizing flavor in cigarettes, and ban all characterizing flavors, including menthol, in cigars. Anti-tobacco groups and lawmakers have long called for the FDA to take action on smoking products with menthol flavoring, which are disproportionately used by Black Americans and other minority groups.
“These actions are an important opportunity to ...