A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) official investigating the use of menthol in cigarettes expressed dissatisfaction with the responses from tobacco companies, Dow Jones Newswires reported Oct. 7.

Earlier this year, the FDA sent out a broad information request to about 100 tobacco companies in an attempt to learn more, in part, about the use of menthol in cigarettes and how menthol cigarettes are marketed. While responses to some parts of the request were mandatory, some were voluntary. 

A senior medical advisor at the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products, Corinne Husten, said in a scientific advisory committee meeting that the industry had not met an Aug. 26 deadline to submit brand-specific information on nicotine and menthol levels from the past ten years. 

Jonathan Daniel Heck, a representative of Lorillard Tobacco Company, stated that he thought the industry had responded to all of the FDA's requests, both mandatory and voluntary. Husten later clarified that although “brief summaries” had been provided by some companies as of Oct. 6, no company had provided “health and research” documents on menthol levels.

A spokesperson for Philip Morris USA’s parent company, Altria Group Inc. said that Philip Morris had responded to all of the FDA's requests for information about menthol.

The FDA banned all other flavorings in cigarettes last year because of concerns that they made smoking more attractive to teens and children. Now it is investigating whether menthol makes it easier to take up smoking and harder to quit. The tobacco industry contends that there is no evidence to show that menthol increases the likelihood that someone will start smoking.

The FDA's report is due next March. It has the authority to limit the amount of menthol that can be used in cigarettes, or ban it outright. Because menthol cigarettes are popular in the United States — they make up about a third of the $70 billion domestic cigarette market — there is some concern that a ban would spawn a large black market for the flavored cigarettes.