US seeking to ban menthol cigarettes, flavored cigars

ANKARA

The US will seek to ban menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars in the next year, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced Thursday.

The efforts “build on previous flavor ban and mark significant steps to reduce addiction and youth experimentation, improve quitting, and address health disparities," said an FDA statement.

Banning menthol and all flavors in cigars will help save lives, especially among those disproportionately affected by smoking, according to the agency that is part of the Health and Human Services Department.

The FDA said the proposed ban will help significantly reduce youth initiation, help current smokers quit, and address health disparities experienced by communities of color, low-income populations, and LGBTQ+ individuals, saying that "all of whom are far more likely to use these tobacco products."

"Together, these actions represent powerful, science-based approaches that will have an extraordinary public health impact. Armed with strong scientific evidence, and with full support from the Administration, we believe these actions will launch us on a trajectory toward ending tobacco-related disease and death in the U.S.," it added.

The agency 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, said the FDA statement.