WASHINGTON, D.C. - Two health advocates are pushing for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban menthol cigarettes. Joseph Califano Jr., former secretary of health, education and welfare under President Jimmy Carter, and Louis Sullivan, former secretary of health and human services under President George H.W. Bush, wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post last week saying such a move "would do more to save lives, reduce health-care costs and curb the tobacco industry??s exploitation of children and minority teens than to ban menthol flavoring in cigarettes."

The pair want to expand the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009, which prohibits cigarettes flavored with any spice, herb, fruit or other flavor, to include menthol. The Tobacco Scientific Advisory Committee??s "recently issued report puts the ball of banning such flavoring in FDA??s court because it concluded that menthol cigarettes have an 'adverse impact on public health by increasing the numbers of smokers with resulting premature death and avoidable morbidity,??" the two wrote.

"The FDA response to the committee??s recommendation will be a test of the Obama administration??s commitment to health care and reducing its costs," they said. "A ban on menthol flavoring in cigarettes would be a slam-dunk for an administration that trumpets its commitment to cutting health-care costs and protecting children."

NACS believes that a ban on menthol in cigarettes risks giving rise to an entire industry of unregulated cigarette products. It is not reasonable to expect that the menthol market, which accounts for roughly 30 percent of cigarette sales today, will vanish overnight or be phased out over time. Combined with the relative ease of obtaining menthol flavorings, NACS believes that black market manufacturers could sprout up quickly if a ban were put in place.

For more on the potential menthol ban and the NACS position, click here.