A Ban on Menthol Cigarettes Only Worsens Public Health

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In response to the FDA’s proposed ban on menthol cigarettes, Patrick Hedger, FreedomWorks Foundation’s Director of Policy, commented:

“While we should all be concerned with the significant public health impact of smoking, the FDA is continuing to suffer from the nirvana fallacy, a problem that long plagued the administrative state prior to the Trump administration. FDA is using its regulatory authority to try and achieve a perfect outcome rather than a realistic one at a time when the rest of the Trump administration is doing the exact opposite.

“FreedomWorks Foundation’s Regulatory Action Center (RAC) is dedicated to advancing regulatory reforms through grassroots activist driven comments. We do this because we believe regulators must be held directly accountable to the real people their rules impact.

“Whether we like it or not, millions of people either struggle to quit smoking or simply do not wish to stop. The FDA’s decision to ban menthol cigarettes at a time when it is also proposing to ban e-cigarette flavors will only drive tobacco users to continue to smoke cigarettes. If you’re going to ban a major category of cigarettes while simultaneously banning e-cigarette flavors, there is no net-positive public health outcome if consumers do not have less-harmful alternatives.”