Public health better off without menthol cigarettes, FDA says

Public health better off without menthol cigarettes

Public health authorities are still fighting the difficult scourge of smoking and health officials said in a report that banning menthol cigarettes may discourage more people to pick up the habit.

A panel of advisers commissioned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration concluded after a year of study that the menthol flavor in cigarette products entices people to smoke and make it more difficult for them to quit smoking.

The draft report is to be formally submitted to the FDA by March 23 as part of a law passed in 2009 that bans tobacco companies to add flavors such as strawberry in cigarettes.

FDA officials will review the report and determine if menthol cigarettes are more dangerous than the regular ones. If that is the case, a ban may be issued by the public health agency.

Some analysts doubt if the report by the panel will convince the FDA to ban menthol cigarettes, citing that the agency is averse to facing legal challenges.

But public health associations lauded the panel's report, saying that it is based on an "exhaustive review" of scientific evidence.

"The committee's conclusions leave no doubt that menthol cigarettes have had a profound adverse impact on public health in the United States, resulting in more smoking and more death and disease from tobacco use," said a joint statement from the American Heart Association, American Cancer Society, American Lung Association, Cancer Action Network and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

The report said that menthol cigarettes are not necessarily more dangerous than regular cigarettes. But overall, it increases the number of smokers thereby impacting negatively on public health.

Posted by George Daniels on Saturday March 19 2011, 5:00 AM EST. Ref: Bloomberg. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Health. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0