A Lost Opportunity for Public Health — The FDA Advisory Committee Report on Menthol

Siegel, Michael M.D., M.P.H.

From the Department of Community Health Sciences, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston.

Disclosure forms provided by the author are available with the full text of this article at NEJM.org.

New England Journal of Medicine 364(23):p 2177-2179, June 9, 2011. | DOI: 10.1056/NEJMp1103403

The recent report of the FDA's Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee represents a huge victory for Lorillard, the manufacturer of the leading brand of menthol cigarettes — and a disappointing setback for the health of black Americans.

Although some public health groups hailed as a public health victory the release of a report on menthol cigarettes by the Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC) of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), close examination of the report and its recommendations reveals that it actually represents a huge victory for Lorillard, the manufacturer of the leading brand of menthol cigarettes (Newport) — and a disappointing setback for the health of black Americans.

The TPSAC was created in 2009 by federal legislation, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, granting the FDA regulatory authority over tobacco products. The committee's …