FDA Panel To Look At Impact Of Menthol Cigarettes

A panel of health experts will begin studying the health effects of menthol cigarettes starting Tuesday as the government grapples with how to regulate the products.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which has new powers to regulate tobacco, wants the panel's help in determining how menthol cigarettes affect the public's health, and whether they induce people to smoke and make it harder for them to quit.

The panel will be closely watched by tobacco companies such as Lorillard (LO), Altria (MO) and Reynolds American (RAI), all of which make menthol cigarettes under brands such as Newport, Marlboro and Camel.

The panel's recommendations will go to the FDA and the FDA is expected to publish a report on the public health impact of menthol by the end of the year. The FDA could ban the products or take less drastic steps such as restricting sales and advertising.

The FDA last year got new powers to regulate the tobacco industry and heavily restrict how the products are advertised, particularly to children. Many health experts have, over the years, raised concerns that the minty flavor in menthol cigarettes induces people to smoke and makes it harder to quit.

A ban on cigarettes flavored with fruit or candy took effect this year.

Tobacco companies have challenged some of the FDA's powers to restrict their advertising and lost in key areas.

-By Jared A. Favole, Dow Jones Newswires; 202.862.9207; jared.favole@dowjones.com

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