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CHALLENGES D ntroduced in the 1920s and promoted as a less irritati ng way to smoke, ment holated cigare ttes have become an advocacy issue in the U.S. because they have been diisproportionately promoted to Afri can-Amer ican and Hispanic populations for decades. Although San Francisco becam e the first city to ban the sale of menthol cigarett es in 2017 , the net impact of opposing menthol has been more symbolic than successfu l . The fight for a ment hol ban coul d have been avoided had it been included in the Family Smokin g Prevent ion and Tobacco Control Act, legisla t ion passed in 2009 by the U.S. Congress to permit the Food and Drug Administra tion to regulate tobacco products , but cigarette maker Phi lip Morris, which crafted the bill w ith the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, threatened to withdraw its support.