WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH MENTHOL?

The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, signed into law in June 2009, gave the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authority to regulate tobacco products. The law made the sale of most flavored additives including fruit and candy flavoring illegal in order to protect youth and young adults, however the law exempted menthol-flavored cigarettes. Menthol flavored cigarettes and other tobacco products are preferred by most youth and young adult tobacco users because they are perceived as less harsh and easier to smoke. Menthol’s exclusion from the list of banned flavorings prompted seven former Secretaries of Health, including Drs. Joseph Califano and Louis Sullivan, and a former Surgeon General to write a joint letter with the National African American Tobacco Prevention Network that vehemently opposed the exclusion of menthol from the list of banned flavors.

The FDA commissioned the Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC) to submit a report and recommendation to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on the impact of the use of menthol in cigarettes on the public health – including use among children, African Americans, Hispanics, and other racial/ethnic minorities.

At its meeting in March 2011, TPSAC deliberated on findings and recommendations on the public health impact of the use of menthol in cigarettes. In addition, industry representatives who serve on TPSAC provided an industry perspective document on the public health impact of the use of menthol in cigarettes to FDA. TPSAC recommended the “removal of menthol cigarettes from the marketplace” to the Food and Drug Administration: (USFDA 2011b, p. 225) because of the serious public health threat that they present to society.
The FDA then conducted an independent review of all available science related to the impact of menthol in cigarettes on public health and drafted a report. FDA submitted its report to external scientists for peer review, and the agency is revising its report based on their feedback. The agency is preparing to make its final report available for public comment in the Federal Register. In addition, FDA will post the scientists’ feedback and the agency’s response to the feedback.

The public comments received in response to FDA’s final report may provide additional evidence or emerging data. The agency will consider these comments in addition to the information it already has from the agency’s report, from the TPSAC report and public comments, and from the industry perspective document. Based on the collective evidence, FDA will consider possible actions related to the public health impact of menthol in cigarettes. Meanwhile, a study published in the May 2011 American Journal of Public Health found that removing menthol could save more than 600,000 smoking related premature deaths by 2050.

In June 2011, FDA updated the public on the agency’s review of the available science. FDA announced that experts within the FDA Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) were conducting an independent review of the available science related to the impact of menthol in cigarettes on public health, including peer-reviewed literature, secondary data analyses, and independent CTP analyses of relevant large data sets. CTP’s extensive analysis and evaluation of the available science relating to public health impact of the use of menthol in cigarettes included a thorough review of scientific literature and data in the areas of chemistry, toxicology, and physiology; patterns of menthol smoking; biomarkers of exposure to toxic constituents; and initiation of cigarette smoking, dependence, and cessation. FDA submitted its draft independent review of the science related to the impact of menthol in cigarettes on public health to an external peer review panel in July 2011.

On March 8, 2012, the Surgeon General released a report, “Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youth and Young Adults: A Report of the Surgeon General, which was historic and commendable as a comprehensive compendium of the data regarding youth prevalence, including use among young adults, racial and ethnic subgroups, variety of tobacco products being marketed and used, and recommendations on how to prevent tobacco use initiation among youth.

In this report, it was stated that:

A higher percentage of adolescent and young adult smokers smoke mentholated cigarettes than any other age group. (page 178)
Mentholated flavoring increases the addictive potential of smoking among youth. (page 178)
Menthol and other flavor additives including fruit and candy flavoring were used as marketing tools to attract young smokers. (page 600)
By the mid-1970s tobacco industry marketing research found that menthol cigarettes "were popular among young smokers because they were perceived as less harsh and easier to smoke." (page 537)
In the NYTS, up to 52 percent of middle school smokers and 43 percent of high school smokers smoke menthol cigarettes. (page 178)
In recent years, adolescent and young adult smoking of menthol cigarettes has increased significantly, while smoking non-mentholated cigarettes has gone down significantly. (page 538)
Menthol cigarettes are more likely to be marketed in stores near schools with higher proportion of African American students. (page 543)
National surveys "confirm that menthol cigarette use is disproportionately common among younger and newer adolescent smokers." (page 600)
Tobacco companies use menthol to increase the appeal of smokeless tobacco products to young people. (page 600)
Evidence indicates that highly addictive, smooth tasting tobacco products like menthol cigarettes increase the likelihood that tobacco will be consumed by young people. (page 851)

This report validates and provides irrefutable data regarding how mentholated cigarettes are a “starter” product for youth and reaffirms that menthol flavoring facilitates youth initiation. It also confirms that more than 80% of smokers started under the age of 18 and 99% of all first use of tobacco occurs by age 26, making tobacco use and addiction a youth and young adult issue.

On March 16, 2012, the government of Brazil set a precedent by banning menthol from all tobacco products in that country (Resolution RDC No 14 of 15). Brazil’s action is intended to protect the youth of that country from tobacco initiation, and is based on the rationale that “the additives used are what lure many young people to start the bad habit in the first place.” The stage is now set for the agency responsible for regulating menthol in tobacco products in the United States to be equally proactive and enact a ban on mentholated tobacco products to protect America’s youth.

What Can You Do?

As An Individual:

1.Sign the petition and get everyone that you know to sign the petition: Ban on Mentholated Tobacco Products
2.Call your State and Federal Congressional Representatives and tell them that you support a ban on menthol and you want them to protect our youth and young adults by supporting a ban on menthol as well
3.Write letters to your local newspaper and tell them that you don’t want our youth preyed on anymore
4.Call the Center for Tobacco Products and tell them to ban mentholated tobacco products and protect our nation’s youth

As An Organization:

1.Sign the petition as an organization and get everyone within the organization to sign as individuals: Ban on Mentholated Tobacco Products
2.Adopt the resolution as an organization and encourage partner organizations to adopt similar resolutions
3.Call your State and Federal Congressional Representatives and tell them that your organization supports a ban on menthol and you want them to protect our youth and young adults by supporting a ban on menthol as well
4.Write letters to your local newspaper and tell them that your organization doesn’t want our youth preyed on anymore
5.Call the Center for Tobacco Products and tell them to ban mentholated tobacco products and protect our nation’s youth