F.D.A. to Examine Menthol Cigarettes

clipped from www.nytimes.com F.D.A. to Examine Menthol Cigarettes By DUFF WILSON For the cigarette industry, the menthol debate is about to flare up again. The new federal advisory board for tobacco regulation plans to meet for the first time Tuesday in Washington. Topping the agenda is one of the most contentious, and racially charged, health issues that Congress deferred last year when it empowered the Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco for the first time. The question: what to do about menthol flavorings in cigarettes, which account for almost a third of the nation’s $70 billion cigarette market? Menthol brands are preferred by 75 percent of African-American smokers. And while studies indicate that blacks smoke fewer cigarettes a day than other categories of smokers, they have greater rates of lung cancer, heart disease and strokes. The Congressional Black Caucus, complaining of predatory marketing, was among the groups that had urged stronger action against menthol in the legislation.