Lorillard Fighting Menthol Ban

Maker of Newport aggressively lobbying the public to keep the FDA from banning menthol.

January 06, 2011

NEW YORK €" A feature in yesterday's Wall Street Journal detailed the fight between Lorillard Inc., maker of the leading U.S. menthol cigarette brand (Newport), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), over the agency's plan to ban the product.

Menthol cigarettes account for roughly 90-percent of Lorillard's sales, so the stakes are indeed high for the company, which is targeting the fight on all fronts.

Lorillard has been buying a host of menthol-bashing Internet domain names, including mentholkillsminorities.com, mentholaddictsyouth.com, and fdamustbanmenthol.com, an effort to keep those URLs out of the hands of its critics.

Next week, a special FDA tobacco advisory committee is scheduled to review data related to menthol products, with a panel recommending in March whether to ban menthol cigarettes altogether.

Given the company's dependence on Newport, Lorillard faces a potential "doomsday scenario if menthol gets banned," said Philip Gorham, a Morningstar analyst.

Lorillard maintains that menthol cigarettes are no more addictive than regular cigarettes, and has begun courting African American groups to help support its case and promote an anti-ban message to the media (the WSJ pointed to studies that show menthol cigarettes particularly popular among African Americans).

The strategy has some health advocates upset, especially in the black community. Dr. Louis Sullivan, who served as U.S. health secretary under George H. Bush, said he is "very disappointed and very distressed" that some African American groups are allowing themselves "to be used by tobacco companies."

Lorillard spokesperson Gregg Perry said the company "has taken vigorous steps to communicate with all who will listen to our point of view," adding that thousands of jobs are at stake. Menthol supporters also predict that a ban would create an unregulated black market for menthol products.

For more on menthol, read "A Ban on Menthol? Or Will Common Sense Prevail?" in the December 2010 NACS Magazine.

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