The FDA considers a ban on Menthol cigarettes. Tobacco companies may face limits on selling menthol cigarettes in the U.S.as the FDA considers all of teh health risks that menthol imposes.  Menthol cigarettes couldhuge threat to those who smoke them, and three studies are in the works to prove the theory.

The FDA is asking for input on whether to set standards prohibiting or limiting menthol in cigarettes. Menthol makes up about 30 percent of the cigarette market and they are apparently menthol cigarettes are more appealing to new smokers, more addictive to longtime smokers and pose a greater threat to the public's health than does unflavored tobacco.

"Menthol cigarettes raise critical public health questions," Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products, said on a conference call. "We need more information on outcomes and we are honestly soliciting comment in response to the questions about regulatory outcomes."

A ban is unlikely and "it could still be a long time until some type of final resolution is ultimately reached, says Bonnie Herzog, an analyst at Wells Fargo & Co. in New York.

The FDA said it would sponsor three new studies of menthol as a tobacco additive, one of which would explore whether genetic differences in taste perception may explain the striking patterns of menthol cigarette use.

One study said menthol acts on the same receptors in the human brain as nicotine, the principal addictive substance in tobacco. As a result, menthol appears to dampen the brain's normal response to nicotine, perhaps prompting smokers to compensate by taking in more.

"Today I cannot tell you that menthol cigarettes are more addictive," said Nadine I. Kabbani of George Mason University in Virginia, one of the paper's senior authors. "But I can tell you that they're increasingly found to have biological and biophysical properties that go beyond flavor."

"It's almost like spiking your vodka with beer," with equally unpredictable results, she said.