FDA panel weighs menthol cigarette ban

In crafting the 2009 tobacco law, Congress called for a ban on candy, fruit, spices and other flavorings in cigarettes because of their potential allure for young smokers. Menthol flavoring was not banned because declaring nearly one-third of the cigarette market illegal was thought to be too disruptive and politically unpalatable.

Menthol cigarettes also have a racial dimension: They are preferred by 80 percent of black smokers, and spokesmen for several black civic groups have stepped forward to assert that a ban would unfairly target black consumers.

A ban also is opposed by convenience store operators, who rely on menthol cigarettes for approximately 4 percent of their sales, according to the National Association of Convenience Stores.
The tobacco companies are expected to pull out all the stops to block or delay FDA action.

A ban on menthol could foreshadow an effort to restrict cigarettes' content of nicotine — the addictive component of tobacco — "and that's what the industry is really afraid of," according to Robert Proctor, a professor of the history of science at Stanford University, who has testified as an expert witness in litigation against tobacco firms.

The validity of the FDA panel's conclusions already has been challenged in a suit filed by tobacco companies Lorillard Inc. and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. It charges that three members of the advisory panel have conflicts of interest that taint the fairness of their deliberations.

Lorillard, Reynolds and Altria Group's Philip Morris USA all say that banning menthol would yield no public health benefit and create a black market that would fuel organized crime.

Lorillard gets about 90 percent of its revenue from a single menthol brand, Newport. Philip Morris and R.J .Reynolds have significant, but much smaller, stakes in menthol brands. Lorillard's shares ended Friday at $87.11, up 10.6 percent.

Anti-smoking groups aren't necessarily clamoring for a ban, either.

Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, said the FDA should impose changes in marketing or formulation to curb youth smoking and make it easier for African Americans to quit smoking.

But he added: "That may be a ban, or it may be something different."