Ninety-seven percent of the 246,000+ public comments sent to the FDA before it withdrew a proposed menthol cigarette ban were non-unique form letters, and half traced back to Big Tobacco.
RT’s Three Key Takeaways:
- Form Letter Dominance: A Rutgers Health analysis of 246,808 public comments found that 97% of submissions regarding the menthol rule were form letters, with nearly half traceable to tobacco industry campaigns.
- Healthcare Policy Delays: The high volume of non-unique comments was cited as a reason for the delay and eventual withdrawal of science-based rules intended to reduce tobacco-related harms.
- Limited Health Focus: Only 3% to 5% of unique comments addressed the scientific health evidence behind the proposed ban, with most opposition focusing on economic concerns and illicit market fears.
A Rutgers Health analysis found that Big Tobacco used organized campaigns to flood the FDA with form letters, a tactic that contributed to the stalling of a proposed ban on menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars.
The study, published in JAMA Network Open, examined 246,808 public comments and revealed that 97% of comments on the menthol rule and 93% on the cigar rule were form letters. Approximately 46% of the menthol form letters were linked to campaigns from Reynolds American Inc and Altria Group Inc, while only 2% of all submissions were unique, according to researchers.
“The sheer volume of comments was used as a reason to delay a public healthcare policy that would have saved lives,” said Andrea Villanti, professor at the Rutgers School of Public Health and lead author of the study. “What wasn’t considered was how few of those submissions were unique or how much tobacco company influence had shaped both the volume and the content of the comments.”
Among the unique comments analyzed, 96% opposed the menthol ban, primarily citing economic concerns such as revenue loss and the potential for illicit markets. Researchers noted that only 3% to 5% of these unique comments discussed the health evidence supporting the regulations.
The analysis is part of a larger project investigating how disinformation affects tobacco policy. Prior research indicated that tobacco companies used direct-to-consumer emails to steer customers toward websites that generated prewritten antiban letters for submission to the FDA.
The study also addressed industry arguments regarding increased policing in Black communities, often citing the 2014 death of Eric Garner. Villanti noted that this argument is misleading because FDA standards regulate manufacturing and sales rather than individual purchase or use.
“Taken together, these findings show how the tobacco industry influence can shape policy debates in ways that obscure scientific evidence and distort perceptions of public opinion,” said Kymberle Sterling, associate professor at the Rutgers School of Public Health and study co-author. “As a result, Black communities and other populations disproportionately targeted by the marketing of menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars continue to bear an unequal burden of tobacco-related harms when evidence-based protections are delayed, weakened, or withdrawn.”
Menthol cigarettes represent more than one-third of the US market and are linked to an estimated 378,000 premature deaths between 1980 and 2018. Although the FDA sent final rules to the White House in 2023, the Biden administration postponed the decision in 2024, and the rules were eventually withdrawn in January 2025.
