Tighter tobacco restrictions may be on the horizon as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) finds that menthol cigarettes may encourage people to start smoking. As Mr. Brady Dennis reports in the Washington Post, while there is little evidence that “menthol cigarettes are more toxic than non-menthol cigarettes, the mint flavor of menthol masks the harshness of tobacco, making it easier to get addicted and harder to quit.” In 2009, the government “banned candy-, fruit-, and spice-flavored cigarettes, saying manufacturers had used such products to lure young smokers into addiction.” Menthol cigarettes account for about 30 percent of the U.S. cigarette market, with eighty percent of Black smokers and half of all young smokers preferring menthol. In 2011, an FDA advisory panel issued a 250-page report concluding that “removal of menthol cigarettes from the marketplace would benefit the public health of the United States.” To read more about the FDA’s findings on menthol cigarettes, click here.