WASHINGTON -- The tobacco industry's marketing of menthol cigarettes just serves to entice the next generation of smokers, and the FDA should respond by pulling the cigarettes from the market, a group of Senate Democrats said Monday.
"As senators committed to the FDA's mission to protect public health, we believe it is time for the FDA to act on the substantial scientific data and use the authority provided by the Tobacco Control Act to remove menthol cigarettes from the marketplace," senators Ed Markey (Mass.), Patty Murray (Wash.), Jack Reed (R.I.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Chris Van Hollen (Md.), Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), Sherrod Brown (Ohio), and Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.) wrote in a letter to FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD.
After the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act went into effect in 2009, "the FDA has made progress in efforts to discourage use of traditional cigarettes by youth and assist the public in understanding the health risks associated with smoking," the senators noted.
"However, the continued marketing and use of menthol cigarettes, particularly by youth, threatens to significantly undermine this progress ... [Studies show that] menthol cigarettes frequently serve as a starter product for youth, are associated with increased nicotine dependence in young smokers, and make it more difficult to quit smoking."
In addition, "the tobacco industry has a long history of targeting menthol cigarettes to African Americans," the letter continued. "These actions have resulted in significant health disparities in communities of color, with African Americans suffering the greatest burden of tobacco-related mortality of any ethnic or racial group in the United States."
"Continued delay on this issue will only further worsen this public health crisis, as a new generation of smokers are initiated and become addicted to menthol cigarettes," the senators wrote. "We urge FDA to use its authority to expediently remove menthol as a flavor additive."
The senators asked Gottlieb to respond to several questions, including what steps the agency has taken to address the risk of menthol in cigarettes since it issued an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in 2013, as well as what has contributed to the delay in taking action. They also requested that Gottlieb provide a timeline for finalizing regulations on the issue.
The FDA did not respond to a request for comment on this story.
The FDA has received the letter and will respond directly to the senators, an agency spokesman said in an email. He noted that in a late July press release, the FDA said it would seek input on a variety of topics. “In particular, the FDA intends to issue an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to seek public comment on the role that flavors (including menthol) in tobacco products play in attracting youth and may play in helping some smokers switch to potentially less harmful forms of nicotine delivery.â€