80 Public Health Groups Support Federal Ban on Menthol Cigarettes and Flavored Cigars

Eighty public health groups are calling for a federal ban on menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars, CNN reports.

The groups, including the American Heart Association, the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, placed a full-page ad in Sunday’s Washington Post calling for the ban.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced in April 2022 proposed product standards to prohibit menthol as a characterizing flavor in cigarettes and prohibit all characterizing flavors (other than tobacco) in cigars. “These actions have the potential to significantly reduce disease and death from combusted tobacco product use, the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., by reducing youth experimentation and addiction, and increasing the number of smokers that quit,” the FDA said in a news release.

Last month, the FDA sent final rules on prohibiting menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review. The public health groups who placed the ad this weekend are urging the Office of Management and Budget to act quickly so final regulations could be issued by the end of this year.