Take a deep breath, America. We’ve made serious progress against cigarette smoking. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 23% of adults were smokers in 2000. By 2020, the rate had fallen to 12.5%. Teen use of traditional cigarettes has plummeted from 22.5% in 2002 to 6% in 2019, according to the American Lung Assn.

And yet we have a long way to go, in part because the popularity of vaping has led to an overall increase in use of tobacco products.

A 2021 survey found that 11.3% of high school students said they currently use e-cigarettes; of those, more than a quarter vaped daily.

Yes, e-cigarettes don’t have the smoke associated with lung cancer, but they contain a batch of harmful chemicals that can cause breathing problems and other health issues. Not to mention that they hook young people on nicotine, which then opens the door to cigarettes.

It’s probably not a coincidence that in 2009, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned most kinds of flavored cigarettes, those that taste of candy or fruit and lured teens into smoking. It would take 12 more years for the FDA to announce a similar but partial ban on flavored e-cigarettes while it continues to consider whether vaping products should be banned altogether.

But there’s one flavor that has remained untouched, at least until now. After more than a decade of consideration, the FDA is proposing to ban menthol cigarettes and cigars (and is taking public comments on this plan until July 5). Menthol has long been the most common and popular flavor for tobacco products.

Menthol has a minty taste that softens the harshness of cigarette smoke, making it easier to start — and, some studies indicate, harder to quit. It also is especially marketed to communities of color, so it should be no surprise that 48% of adult Latino smokers and 85% of Black smokers use menthol tobacco products, compared with 30% for white smokers, according to the CDC.

Of course, adults are entitled to make their own decisions — even very bad ones — about whether to smoke. Banning menthol, considering its effect on the Black community, is a double-edged sword. Tobacco companies have targeted vulnerable populations with marketing, causing disproportionate harm.

Black people smoke at somewhat higher rates than white people. But banning menthol could be seen as biased and patronizing, with the government telling Black adults that they no longer have access to the kind of smokes they like.

Nor is menthol’s effect on smoking rates entirely clear. Despite the higher levels of menthol use among Latinos, they are significantly less likely to smoke than white people.

But the debate ends with the irrefutable fact that menthol is a gateway to smoking and it worsens the rate of smoking overall. According to the anti-tobacco group Truth Initiative, the percentage of smokers who choose menthol rose steadily from 2008 to 2018. And young smokers are significantly more likely to choose menthol.

The menthol ban is the right way to go — except that it doesn’t go nearly far enough. Menthol e-cigarettes are not included.

The tobacco industry has argued that a ban on menthol products would only cause menthol smokers to turn to regular cigarettes. But a 2020 meta-study that included examinations of places where such bans were already in effect found that while some smokers switched products, fewer people started smoking altogether.