The Food and Drug Administration received approximately 175,000 public comments during a three-month period following its 2022 proposal to ban menthol cigarettes. Researchers at Rutgers University, whose findings were published recently in JAMA Network Open, determined that 97% of these comments were form letters opposing the ban. Nearly half of the identical letters originated from campaigns coordinated by major tobacco manufacturers Altria Group Inc. and Reynolds American, while most remaining letters repeated standard industry arguments. Only 2% of the total comments represented unique submissions.
The practice of submitting repetitive comments to regulatory agencies is not unprecedented. The tobacco industry employed similar tactics dating to at least the 1980s when opposing airline smoking restrictions. However, experts note that regulatory agencies typically assess the substantive quality of comments rather than their volume when developing rules. The novel aspect of the menthol campaign appears to be its effectiveness as a delaying mechanism.
Following the close of the public comment period in August 2022, the FDA announced it would require additional time to review the submissions comprehensively. The agency initially missed its August 2023 deadline for issuing the rule and postponed to March 2024. During this extended timeline, the proposal became entangled with broader political considerations, including presidential re-election efforts and concerns about support among Black American voters, who represent a significant market for menthol cigarettes.
In April 2024, the Biden administration indefinitely postponed the ban, citing the substantial volume of public feedback. The proposed rule was officially abandoned after the subsequent change in administration. Health researchers have documented that menthol cigarettes, which comprise more than a third of all cigarettes sold in the United States, have disproportionately affected Black Americans’ health. According to research cited in the article, menthol cigarettes were associated with approximately 157,000 smoking-related deaths among Black Americans between 1980 and 2018. Scientists estimated that implementing the ban could have prevented roughly 650,000 early deaths over a four-decade period.
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