The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is planning to ban menthol cigarettes in hopes to lower smoking rates.

The FDA has already banned flavored cigarettes in 2009, except for mentholated tobacco products, because it attracts young adults.

Recently, the agency announced that it also intends to ban menthol in cigarettes.

Georgetown University researchers reviewed 24 studies to determine the effect of a ban on menthol cigarettes. They found out that 11 percent to 45 percent of current menthol smokers in the United States might quit smoking if there would be a ban on menthol cigarettes.

Around 15 percent to 30 percent of menthol smokers also said they may switch to electronic cigarettes or e-cigarettes.

Researchers also found out that menthol smokers quitting or switching to e-cigarettes are more likely to be young adults. They said banning menthol cigarettes may reduce the number of young smokers by six percent. But studies on non-menthol flavor banned in the U.S. found that some retailers continued to sell the banned products.

"Further research is needed to determine the potential influence of e-cigarette alternatives and their availability to consumers and should consider the effects of menthol cigarette bans that have already been implemented in local areas of the U.S.," study lead author David Levy was quoted in a report.

"Nevertheless, the evidence to date indicates that a menthol cigarette ban, especially if implemented nationally with high compliance, provides an important opportunity to improve public health by reducing smoking-attributable diseases," Levy added.

Meanwhile, an American Journal of Preventive Medicine 2019 research has studied smokers between the ages of 12 and 17. More than two out of five respondents said the first cigarette they smoked was menthol flavored cigarettes.

"One of the reasons hypothesized for why menthol is so appealing to young people is that it's been proposed to, quote-unquote, 'help the medicine go down.' The minty cooling sensation is supposed to mask the harshness of inhaled cigarette smoke," lead author of the study Amy Cohn said.

The research also showed that black youths were the target market of menthol cigarettes.

"A lot of research suggests that this marketing has something to do with the uptake of menthol [cigarettes], specifically in this group of individuals," Cohn noted.

Cohn said that about 80 percent of African-American smokers smoke menthol cigarettes. The study further revealed that peer use may also influence why menthol cigarette smoking is higher among African-American.

"I think that there's a lot of focus on e-cigarettes and vaporized products. And what I think that does for the tobacco industry is that it takes the focus off of cigarettes and things like menthol cigarettes that have been around for a long time. And I think it's important that we keep the focus on menthol cigarettes," Cohn said.

Menthol Cigarettes Ban

Menthol cigarettes have been banned in the United Kingdom since May 20 as part of the new smoking laws of The European Union Revised Tobacco Products Directive (TPD).

Anyone caught selling the menthol products across the European Union (EU) could be fined up to €1,000, according to a report. The ban covers capsule, click on, click & roll, crush ball or dual-menthol cigarettes.

Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) Deborah Arnott said the slow phase-out was started to prevent future generations from smoking.

The menthol flavor makes it easier to smoke because it has a lesser harsh taste of tobacco.

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