"While we have not had the opportunity to review this report in depth, the most comprehensive government-sponsored studies show that populations who use menthol have lower smoking rates across all age groups.
"Importantly, this report appears to ignore the chief finding of the surveythat [image-nocss] menthol use among underage smokers has leveled off in the last year. According to current data, adult smoking rates continue to decline, while youth rates are at historic lows and have been in decline for more than a decade.
"The current weight of scientific evidence does not support the conclusion that menthol cigarettes confer a greater health risk than non-menthol.
"Lorillard looks forward to cooperating with the FDA as it makes an objective science-based assessment in its review of menthol."
According to the SAMHSA study, menthol cigarette use is higher among persons who started smoking in the past year (44.6%) than among longer-term smokers (31.8%). In addition, among persons who smoked in the past month, the percentage using menthol cigarettes increased from 31% in 2004 to 33.9% in 2008. This increase was most pronounced among adolescent smokers aged 12 to 17 (up from 43.5% to 47.7%), and young adult smokers aged 18 to 25 (up from 34.1% to 40.8%).
Menthol is an additive used in cigarettes that masks the harshness of cigarette smoke by giving the smoker the sensation of coolness in the mouth, pharynx and lungs, said SAMHSA. By masking the harshness, menthol can make it easier for young people to start smoking, it said. Some recent research indicates that menthol cigarettes may be more difficult to quit than other types of cigarettes, it added.
Menthol is the only cigarette flavoring still permitted under the Family Smoking Prevention & Tobacco Control Act, but the law calls for research on the public health effects of its continued use in cigarettes.
The study shows that the levels of menthol cigarette use among black smokers (82.6%) remains much higher than white smokers (23.8%), hispanic smokers (32.3%) and smokers from other racial and ethnic groups. Among blacks, long-term smokers were more likely to use menthol cigarettes than were those who took up smoking in the past year, which is the opposite of the pattern found among white and Hhspanic smokers.
There was also a noticeable rise in the percentage using menthol cigarettes among male current smokers, it said, from 2004 to 2008 (26.9% to 30.8%).
Use of Menthol Cigarettes is based on 2004 - 2008 data drawn from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which obtained responses from 340,476 persons aged 12 or older.
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Lorillard, based in Greensboro, N.C., is the third largest manufacturer of cigarettes in the United States. Newport, Lorillard's flagship brand, is a menthol-flavored premium cigarette brand and the top-selling menthol and second largest-selling cigarette in the United States. In addition to Newport, the Lorillard product line has five additional brand families marketed under the Kent, True, Maverick, Old Gold and Max brand names. These six brands include 44 different product offerings which vary in price, taste, flavor, length and packaging.
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