FDA moves to ban menthol cigarettes, flavored tobacco products

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has moved to ban menthol cigarettes and other flavored tobacco products in a decision that Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said reflects the Biden administration’s “commitment to improve the health of all Americans and to tackle health disparities in our most marginalized communities.”

"The FDA is working toward issuing proposed product standards within the next year to ban menthol as a characterizing flavor in cigarettes and ban all characterizing flavors (including menthol) in cigars; the authority to adopt product standards is one of the most powerful tobacco regulatory tools Congress gave the agency," the FDA said in a news release posted Thursday. "This decision is based on clear science and evidence establishing the addictiveness and harm of these products and builds on important, previous actions that banned other flavored cigarettes in 2009."  Acting FDA commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock said the actions "represent powerful, science-based approaches that will have an extraordinary public health impact."