Last week The New England Journal of Medicine published a
point/counterpoint about menthol cigarettes, the subject of a
recent report from the Food and Drug Administration's Tobacco
Products Scientific Advisory Committee. The report (PDF), issued
in late March, concluded that "removal of menthol cigarettes
from the marketplace would benefit public health in the United
States" but cautioned that "a black market for menthol
cigarettes could be created, criminal activity could ensue, and
different methods might be used to supply such a black market."
Boston University public health professor Michael Siegel
criticizes the advisory committee for kicking the issue back to
the FDA without "a clear and strongly stated recommendation that
the FDA ban menthol cigarettes to protect the public's health."
Neal Benowitz and Jonathan Samet, two members of the committee,
defend their work as responsive to their legislative mandate,
which was to consider the impact of menthol cigarettes on
smoking-related disease. They concl