In an effort to reduce the appeal of smoking for young people, US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is considering imposing a ban on menthol cigarettes and all flavoured tobacco products like cigarettes with fruit, candy or clove flavors.

The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act enacted in June authorizes the agency to impose the ban that represents the agency’s national effort to prevent the youth from developing an addiction to tobacco.

The leading preventable cause of death in America, the governmental agency is trying to reduce smoking rates by banning menthol cigarettes and flavored tobacco products apart from cigarettes.

FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg says 90% of adult smokers begin smoking as teenagers, with flavored cigarettes the gateway for children and young adults to develop into regular smokers.

According to FDA, studies have shown 17-year-old smokers to be thrice as likely to use flavored cigarettes, as 25-plus smokers.

Products affected by the ban include clove, vanilla and grape flavored cigarettes. Camel’s manufacturer R. J. Reynolds agreed to stop marketing flavored Camel cigarettes in 2006, as part of an agreement with the state attorneys’ generals.

While, the ban does not apply to menthol cigarettes, FDA is examining options for regulating menthol cigarettes, including other tobacco products e. g. smokeless tobacco products also available in several flavors.

Kretek International Inc., an importer of Djarum-brand tobacco products from Indonesia, including cigarette sized clove and vanilla flavored cigars, is permitted to let these products remain on the market, as it is not certain whether the new law applies to cigars, as well.