Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced it is working toward issuing proposed rulemaking to ban menthol as a characterizing flavor in cigarettes and ban all characterizing flavors (including menthol) in cigars to reduce disease and death from use of combusted tobacco products in the United States.

GO2 for Lung Cancer supports this historic step and applauds the intent of the Administration to see these actions through to completion.

We stand with the tobacco control community in urging the FDA to move expeditiously to propose, finalize, and implement regulations on menthol cigarettes. We agree with the Congressional Black Caucus Braintrust recommendation that the FDA should begin a rulemaking to prohibit menthol cigarettes. In the process, the agency should make it clear that the FDA’s enforcement of a menthol prohibition will only focus on manufacturers and retailers, not individual consumers.

As members of the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, GO2 for Lung Cancer will continue to monitor this issue and to take action through the coalition.