How the FDA ’s Menthol Cigarette Ban Fits Into a New Era of U.S. Tobacco Regulation

It’s easy to forget that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) only gained the ability to regulate tobacco products in 2009, given how much it has done in the following decade-plus. In recent years, the FDA has enacted a series of regulations that have significantly shaped the ways in which Americans buy and consume nicotine. In the last two years alone, the FDA has banned the sale of many flavored e-cigarette products and, following legislation issued by the Trump Administration in late 2019, began enforcing a new federal minimum age for tobacco sales, up to 21 from 18. A policy originally proposed in 2017 by then-FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb—a cap on the amount of nicotine in cigarettes, meant to make them less addictive—is now once again under discussion. And, as FDA officials announced on April 29, the agency will soon ban all favored cigars and all menthol cigarettes, the only flavored combustible cigarette products still available for sale in the U.S. The FDA ban must still go through a rule-making process and so may not take effect for years. Even still, the policy fits into a new era of U.S. tobacco regulation—one that has already and will continue to clear the market of many tobacco products, from flavored e-cigarettes to menthol cigarettes and, maybe someday, cigarettes with enough nicotine to be addictive. Many public-health groups say that approach is appropriately aggressive, given the nearly 500,000 Americans who die each ye...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized News Source Type: news