The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced its proposal to ban the sale of menthol cigarettes and flavoured cigars, and to put new restrictions on the sale of e-cigarettes, according to a statement on the agency’s website.

In the FDA’s statement, which was authored by FDA commissioner, Scott Gottlieb, the agency proposed its next moves in its policy framework to prevent youth from having access to or using tobacco products including e-cigarettes. Gottlieb said that new framework would focus on putting restrictions on flavours, which he said were “the core of the epidemic” in the statement.
In addition to that, Gottlieb commented on the particular danger and appeal of flavoured tobacco products saying that the purpose of limiting access and the sale of flavoured tobacco products “would dramatically impact the ability of American kids to access tobacco products”, which Gottlieb said are “both appealing and addicting.” When discussing the topic of menthol cigarettes, the FDA commissioner said that cigarette flavours such as menthol simply mask “some of the unattractive features of smoking that might otherwise discourage a child from smoking.”
The agency reported that younger individuals have an increased rate of smoking menthol cigarettes and that more than 54 per cent of smokers ages 12-17 smoke menthol cigarettes, while only one-third of smokers ages 35 and older smoke menthols. In addition to that, the agency reported the rate of menthol smokers among young African Americans is even higher. The FDA indicated that youth is also more likely to smoke flavoured cigars. Therefore, Gottlieb said that the agency would take a “comprehensive approach” against flavours by also creating a policy to eliminate flavours in cigars.
In the statement, the FDA said that it will enforce new rules on the sale of flavoured e-cigarettes in stores, which will entail enforcing the products to be sold in restricted areas in retail stores where minors will not be able to enter.
The new restriction will not extend to mint and menthol e-cigarette flavours or flavoured e-cigarettes sold online, according to the statement.