FDA Is Moving Ahead to Outlaw Menthol Cigarettes

Flavored e-cigarettes are getting a bit of a reprieve from the FDA, which has threatened to ban them to combat youth vaping. But, the New York Times reports, the agency will push forward with plans to outlaw menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars, “two traditional tobacco products that disproportionately harm African Americans.” The process of banning menthol cigarettes, which account for 35% of cigarette sales, could take at least two years, the paper reports, calling the move the “most aggressive” anti-tobacco action by the FDA in a decade and especially notable since it comes from the business-friendly Trump administration. As for flavored e-cigarettes, instead of forbidding the sale of them at stores, the FDA said Thursday that stores can still carry the products as long as they are kept in areas where minors can’t access them. (Ahead of the threatened ban, Juul halted store sales of most of its e-cig flavors.)