Trump administration withdraws proposed menthol ban

In this Nov. 6, 2014, file photo, a man smokes a cigarette on Main Street in Westminster, Mass. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola), File (Elise Amendola/The Associated Press)

The Trump administration has withdrawn the proposed rule that would ban menthol in cigarettes and flavoured cigars according to the regulatory docket.

A menthol ban is something that the US Food and Drug Administration under the Biden administration had said was a “top priority.” It sent the final version of its rule banning menthol cigarettes and flavoured cigars to the White House for its approval in October of 2023. A ban had been expected that year, but after intense lobbying from various stakeholder groups, the Biden White House never gave the ban the greenlight.

“The Lung Association remains deeply disappointed that President Biden did not finalize the menthol cigarette and flavoured cigar rules when he could,” said Erika Sward, the assistant vice president of national advocacy for the American Lung Association.

Yolonda C. Richardson, president and CEO of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids also said Friday that she was deeply disappointed that the ban did not happen in a timely manner under the past administration.

“We continue to strongly support eliminating menthol cigarettes to end the tobacco industry’s decades-long, predatory marketing of these products to kids, Black Americans and other communities,” Richardson said in an emailed statement. “We will continue to build support for eliminating menthol cigarettes nationwide. In the meantime, it is more critical than ever that states and cities step up their efforts to end the sale of menthol cigarettes and other flavoured tobacco products.”

In April of last year a coalition of civil rights groups and medical organizations sued the FDA for missing its own deadline to ban menthol. The groups said the lawsuit is still ongoing, although it is unclear how it will be impacted by the withdrawal of the rule.

While the rule has been withdrawn, it is not completely dead, experts said. An administration in the future could resurrect the rule and avoid some of the procedural hurdles.

All flavours in cigarettes except menthol were banned in 2009. The FDA has been considering a ban on menthol for more than a decade.

Studies suggest that a ban would save lives and money. Over a 20-year period, it could lower health care costs among all adult smokers by about $1.62 billion, a recent study found. It could also save up to 654,000 lives in the US within 40 years, including the lives of 255,000 members of the Black community, according to a 2022 study.

A ban could also have a significant impact on the number of kids who start smoking. More than half of kids who smoke use menthol cigarettes, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Research has also found that children who smoked menthols were more likely to become regular smokers than occasional smokers.

The benefits would also be especially significant for Black and LGBTQ+ communities. For years, tobacco companies have aggressively targeted these communities with menthol marketing, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The focused outreach has been highly effective, and menthol cigarettes have played a role in widened health disparities.

A 2020 study showed that while 43% of all adult smokers smoked menthols, more than 83% of Black smokers did. Only about 30% of White smokers chose menthols.

Black people die at significantly higher rates than White people of smoking-related illnesses including stroke, heart disease and lung cancer: They make up 12% of the population in the US, but people who are Black account for 41% of smoking-related premature deaths and 50% of the life-years lost associated with menthol tobacco product use between 1980 and 2018, one study found.

Within five years, the elimination of menthol cigarettes could close the gap in lung cancer deaths, the same study found.

“The FDA’s previously proposed rule to ban menthol would save millions of American lives from painful, preventable deaths. There is no scientific research that supports withdrawing the rule, yet unfortunately, the FDA has done so,” said Laurent Huber, executive director for Action on Smoking and Health in an email. “ASH will continue to advocate on behalf of Americans’ health, and because menthol makes youth smoking initiation easier and smoking harder to quit, we will continue to push for a ban on menthol in tobacco products.”