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Tobacco Industry Fighting Potential Ban on Minty-Fresh Cigarettes

By Eric Lipman

Back in September, a ban on certain "flavored cigarettes" went into effect. It is now illegal to produce or sell coffin nails containing delicious tastes such as: "strawberry, grape, orange, clove, cinnamon, pineapple, vanilla, coconut, licorice, cocoa, chocolate, cherry, or coffee." Sorta makes you crave some Ralph's Ices, no? The FDA also announced that it was looking into whether to issue a similar ban on menthol cigarettes. In late March, the agency held a two-day hearing on the potential menthol ban, and in May, it issued requests to the tobacco companies to fork over their own scientific and marketing data comparing menthol to non-menthol cigarettes. Yet another round of hearings is taking place this week, and Lorillard Inc., which is the largest U.S. manufacturer of menthols, is going on the offensive. This Bloomberg story notes that the company has called out government scientists who have testified that the addition of menthol flavor makes cigarettes even more harmful and addictive, saying such testimony was "incomplete and/or inaccurate." The industry will have a chance to make its arguments at the hearing Thursday in Rockville, Md. The issue is of particular importance to African-Americans, who make up a disproportionate percentage of menthol smokers....

Full post as published by Legal Blog Watch on July 13, 2010 (boomark / email).