Completely switching to menthol-flavored e-cigarette products provides a health benefit for adults who smoke cigarettes compared to tobacco-flavored products, with sufficient evidence to outweigh the risks of the product, including youth appeal, NJOY LLC reported in its marketing application, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said. Because the supplied evidence met FDA’s criteria, in June 2024, the agency issued marketing granted orders to NJOY LLC for four menthol-flavored products.

The Biden administration asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit by anti-smoking groups demanding that it end nearly a year of delay and ban menthol cigarettes, which are used disproportionately by Blacks and younger people. In a Thursday night court filing, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said the delay was not unreasonable because it had yet to determine that a ban was “appropriate for the protection of the public health.”

To tackle the unauthorized and illegal sale and distribution of e-cigarettes and vaping products that “continue to jeopardize the health of Americans—particularly children and adolescents—across the United States,” according to Acting Associate Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer, in June 2024 the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced the creation and launch of a new task force that brings together multiple law enforcement agencies.