Proposed rule banning menthol cigarettes, flavored cigars further delayed

Key takeaways:

• The FDA was expected to have a finalized rule prohibiting the use of menthol in cigarettes by August 2023, but nothing was issued at that time.
• The new final rule date is March 2024.

The date for the FDA’s finalized rule to prohibit menthol in cigarettes and flavors in cigars is now listed as March 2024.

As Healio previously reported, no ruling was issued when first expected in August 2023, although the FDA told Healio at that time they expected a rule “in the coming months.”

“As we’ve made clear, these rules remain at the very top of our priorities,” the FDA said in its statement to Healio.

The initial proposal from April 2022 notes that prohibiting menthol in cigarettes would lower the attractiveness of cigarettes and reduce the chances of cigarette smoking among teenagers and young adults.

According to the FDA’s previous statement provided to Healio, “Evidence shows that flavored tobacco products appeal to youth and also shows that youth may be more likely to initiate tobacco use with such products. Characterizing flavors in cigars, such as strawberry, grape, orange and cocoa, enhance taste and make these products easier to use.”

Following news of this delay, officials from both the American Lung Association and the American Heart Association released statements expressing their disappointment in the FDA and the Biden administration.

“Ending menthol cigarettes is pivotal to eliminating the dramatic health inequities in who uses tobacco products in the United States and who is most affected by tobacco-caused disease and death,” Harold Wimmer, BS, MS, president and CEO of the American Lung Association, said in a statement. “Ending the sale of menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars will save lives.”

In a statement from the American Heart Association, CEO Nancy Brown, BS, said the wait should not be any longer.

“The FDA has already been examining this issue for more than a decade,” Brown said. “In 2011, the agency’s Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee concluded that ending the sale of menthol cigarettes would improve public health. Then in 2013, the FDA conducted an internal review that found menthol enhances the addictiveness and dependence of tobacco and increases the likelihood that people will start smoking and become regular users.”

Every day people are starting to use menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars, and this will continue to happen daily without a final ruling from the FDA, Brown added.

Wimmer called on the administration to finalize the ruling sooner rather than later.

“The time is now for President Biden to stand up to the tobacco industry and finalize the rules to end menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars,” Wimmer said in his statement. “Families are counting on the President to act. These rules must be finalized in 2023.”

References:

• American Lung Association: Any delay in the rules to end menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars will cost U.S. lives. https://www.lung.org/media/press-releases/2023-menthol-delay-statement. Published Dec. 6, 2023. Accessed Dec. 7, 2023.
• Delay of lifesaving tobacco rules will jeopardize the health of communities. https://newsroom.heart.org/news/delay-of-lifesaving-tobacco-rules-will-jeopardize-the-health-of-communities. Published Dec. 6, 2023. Accessed Dec. 7, 2023.
• FDA proposes rules prohibiting menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars to prevent youth initiation, significantly reduce tobacco-related disease and death. https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-proposes-rules-prohibiting-menthol-cigarettes-and-flavored-cigars-prevent-youth-initiation. Last Updated June 27, 2022. Accessed Dec. 7, 2023.