Stanton Directs Special Issue: Policy Implications on Restricting Flavors in Tobacco Products

Earlier this year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced proposed tobacco product standards to prohibit menthol as a characterizing flavor in cigarettes and prohibit all characterizing flavors (other than tobacco) in cigars. These potential federal policy actions are intended to reduce youth appeal to these tobacco products and help more cigarette smokers quit.

Cassandra A. Stanton, PhD, a Westat Associate Director for Behavioral Health and Health Policy, co-led a special journal issue of Tobacco Control: The Impact of Flavour Restricting Policies on Non-Cigarette Tobacco Products. The 15-article special issue focuses on how restricting characterizing flavors in tobacco products impacts product appeal, user behavior, chemistry and toxicity of flavored products, and short/long term health outcomes to inform tobacco product standards and policies. Dr. Stanton partnered with Dr. Maciej Goniewicz of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in developing this issue.

“This special issue was supported by CASEL (Center for Coordination of Analytics, Science, Enhancement, and Logistics), which is a cooperative agreement between Westat, FDA, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA),” notes Stanton. “We assembled researchers from around the world to rapidly disseminate the latest scientific findings on the impact of public policies banning flavors in some tobacco products and the implications for population health. This special journal issue is very timely and will be a valuable resource for national policymakers as they move forward with proposed standards.”