The term that has led to this confusion was itself proposed by the tobacco industry. A 2007 internal document from the maker of Marlboro cigarettes, Philip Morris International, sets out how the company could respond to the tightening grip of regulation. It suggests the company itself could “propose a ban on ‘characterizing flavours’,” although it added that menthol should be exempt. Although EU member states agreed the ban in 2016, it took nearly five years for a group of experts to put in place a methodology for assessing flavour approved by the European Commission. It was established in March, some 10 months after the menthol ban came into force. Contributors GF and MCW are PIs of the study. CNK conducted data analysis, wrote the original draft manuscript, prepared the final version, and is the guarantor. FTF and PD supervised. All authors contributed to reviewing and editing and approving the final manuscript. The UK and EU banned cigarettes with a “characterising menthol flavour” in May 2020. But this category, Arnott said, is “hard to measure and difficult, if not impossible, to enforce”. The ITC figures are supported by 2018 Euromonitor data, which show that the combined market share of menthol and capsules was generally higher in northern European countries, with the highest in Poland, at over 25%, followed by the UK, at over 20% . 11 The UK market

Newport is one of the best-known brands of menthol cigarettes and maintained its top spot, with 6% growth among menthol styles. Marlboro gained 18.1% from 2014 to 2019 and remains second in market share among menthol styles. Department of Health. Equalities Analysis: Tobacco Products Directive (Directive 2014/40/EU). July 2015. Imperial expands portfolio with new L&B filter, Convenience Store, 31 January 2019, accessed August 2021 From May 2020, manufacturers were required to disclose additives in tobacco products and additional information about the harmful and addictive effects of 15 priority additives including menthol. The EU Commission asked an independent group of experts, called WP9 and led by RIVM, to assess the research reports. 6 WP9 concluded that there was strong independent evidence that low amounts of menthol (which would be insufficient to make a characterising flavour) still facilitates smoke inhalation making smoking easier for novice (new) smokers. 6 WP9 noted that tobacco industry reports did not come to the same conclusion because they left out some independent studies. There were also limitations in the research methods and statistical analyses. 6 WP9 therefore concluded that the industry reports were unreliable and should not be used to guide EU member states’ policies. WP9 instead advises that menthol in cigarettes should be banned completely. 6 EU ban on flavoured heated tobacco productsCenters for Disease Control and Prevention, Office on Smoking and Health Summary of Scientific Evidence: Flavored Tobacco Products, Including Menthol February (United States, 2021) Evidence from Ontario in Canada shows an increased number of smokers quit following introduction of a ban on menthol, compared to the number who had reported an intention to quit before the ban was introduced.[7] The FDA has been considering menthol regulations for more than a decade. Scientists have long understood that the flavor can make cigarettes more addictive than tobacco-flavored ones. A 2015 study found that it makes people want to smoke more. The proposed standards would also ban characterising flavours in components or parts of cigarettes and cigars (filters, filter wrapper, paper, filter tips, drops, capsules, flavour cards) whether or not they were sold separately. 3 This was not the case with the EU ban, an omission which provided a loophole for the industry to exploit.

The tobacco industry claimed that stopping convenience stores selling menthol cigarettes as planned in Minnesota (by restricting their sale to adult only tobacco and stores selling alcohol) would lead to catastrophic financial and job losses. However independent research suggested losses would be six times smaller: tobacco does not drive use of convenience stores as much as the tobacco industry claims. 15tests were conducted for bivariate comparisons between menthol and non-menthol smokers on wave 1 covariates (ie, sociodemographic variables and smoking behaviours). Comparisons between these groups were also made for post-ban outcomes using the overall sample, as well as stratified by sex. Bivariate results are presented as percentages with 95% CIs, per cent differences (% diff) and p values.

A leaked document seen by the Bureau and OCCRP reveals the Swedish government referred 21 varieties of cigarette owned by JTI to the commission for testing in June 2020. Progress has been slow, partly because it is the first time this procedure has been used, and the testing is ongoing. The EU told the Bureau it would "take further action" against the tobacco companies if they were breaking the menthol ban.S. Dance, K. Evans Reeves, Menthol: Tobacco Companies are exploiting loopholes in the UK’s characterising flavours ban, blog, Tobacco Control, 5 May 2021, accessed August 2021 a b c d e f Menthol facilitates inhalation of tobacco smoke, even when you cannot taste it, RIVM News, 28 June 2021, accessed August 2021