The United States is moving towards a ban on menthol cigarettes

Packets of menthol cigarettes and other tobacco products in a San Francisco store in 2018. Jeff Chiu (AP)

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced this Thursday new standards to ban menthol as a characteristic flavor of a type of cigarette, as well as all flavors, apart from tobacco itself, in the pure.

The initiative seeks to significantly reduce addiction, and the illnesses and deaths derived from its consumption, of smoking tobacco, the main preventable cause of death in the country, and whose consumption greatly affects the African-American population: 85% of smokers of that community consume menthol products.

The FDA move is also ultimately intended to reduce the number of active smokers, in a 40-year program and thus save hundreds of thousands of lives.

“The [new] proposed rules would help prevent children from becoming the next generation of smokers and help adult smokers to quit smoking,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in presenting the initiative. , according to a statement from the White House.

"In addition, the proposed rules represent an important step to promote equity in health by significantly reducing tobacco-related health disparities," the text continues, referring to the special incidence of the consumption of menthol products among the African-American population.

This is a new twist on the smoking habit, after in 2009, under the so-called Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Law, all characteristic flavors (apart from tobacco and menthol) were banned in the cigarettes.

The initiative presented this Thursday is also part of the reactivation of the Federal Administration's

campaign , which aims to reduce the cancer mortality rate by at least 50% over the next 25 years.

Approximately 30% of all cancer deaths in the United States are due to this habit.

“The authority to adopt tobacco product standards is one of the most powerful tools Congress gave the FDA, and the actions we are proposing can help significantly reduce youth initiation, as well as increase the chances that Current smokers quit smoking.

It is clear that these efforts will help save lives”, said the head of the FDA, Robert M. Califf, physician and professor of Cardiology.

“Through the rulemaking process, we have an important opportunity for the public to make their voices heard and help shape the FDA's ongoing efforts to improve public health,” a concept that screeches when confronted with the unequal –in cost and provision of services– the country's health system.

Menthol is a mint flavored and scented additive that reduces irritation and harshness from smoking.

This increases the appeal and makes menthol cigarettes easier to use, especially for youth and young adults just starting the habit.

But it also interacts with nicotine in the brain to increase the addictive effects of this substance.

The combination of menthol's taste, sensory effects, and interaction with nicotine in the brain increase the likelihood that youth who start smoking menthol cigarettes will continue to smoke conventional cigarettes.

Menthol also makes it difficult for people to quit smoking, due to its soothing nature.

In 2019, there were more than 18.5 million menthol cigarette smokers over the age of 12 in the US, with rates particularly high among youth, young adults, and African-Americans and other racial and ethnic groups, the White House statement said.

Published modeling studies believe it is feasible to reduce smoking by 15% within 40 years if menthol cigarettes become unavailable.

These studies also estimate that between 324,000 and 654,000 deaths attributable to smoking in general (92,000 to 238,000 among African Americans) would be avoided in the same period.

After toughening up its offensive against electronic cigarettes, the FDA's proposal will have the interests of the powerful tobacco industry in the face.

As federal officials put the finishing touches on the proposal announced Thursday, dozens of lobbyists met with White House advisers to try to influence the process, which will cost the industry billions in lost sales.

During the last half century, the battle against tobacco has been constant, especially on the part of Democratic administrations.

In 2014, under the presidency of Barack Obama, the FDA banned even a particular type of cigarette for not detailing its composition.