FDA makes long-awaited move to ban menthol cigarettes

FDA makes long-awaited move to ban menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars in continued crackdown on tobacco usage in America

• The FDA is planning on going through with the long awaited ban on menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars
• It comes as a larger crackdown from the agency on flavored tobacco products and their association with teen smoking 

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is planning to ban the use of menthol cigarettes in America, a move that had been called on by anti-tobacco groups, anti-teen smoking groups, racial justice groups in America.

The move had been expected since the beginning of the Biden administration last year, when the President made it a priority to tackle upward trends in teen smoking.

Menthol cigarettes – often colloquially referred to as just ‘menthols’ – are known for their mint-like flavor, and have been associated with the higher rates of smoking, and smoking-related illnesses, in black Americans over recent decades.

Flavored cigars, like cigarillos, are set to be banned as well. Both moves come as part of a larger effort by the FDA to crack down of flavored tobacco products – blamed for an increase in teen smoking.