When Public Comment Is Mostly Copy and Paste

In May 2022 the FDA opened two dockets that would shape tobacco regulation for years: one to ban menthol as a characterizing flavor in cigarettes, the other to ban characterizing flavors in cigars. The comment windows drew nearly a quarter of a million submissions. A study published in JAMA Network Open on August 3, 2026, suggests the headline number was misleading.

The researchers analyzed 246,808 comments, split between 175,285 menthol-cigarette submissions and 71,523 flavored-cigar submissions. They found that 97 percent of menthol-cigarette comments and 93 percent of flavored-cigar comments were form letters, identical blocks of text submitted repeatedly. Only 2 percent, or 4,774 comments, were unique. Content tied to specific tobacco companies appeared in 44 percent of menthol-cigarette comments and 10 percent of flavored-cigar comments.

Among the small share of unique comments, almost all opposed the bans: 96 percent for menthol cigarettes and 99 percent for flavored cigars. The recurring themes were economic, not medical. Commenters cited lost revenue and sales, warned of illicit markets, and suggested other routes the FDA should take instead. The study does not accuse the agency of misconduct, but it does question how much weight raw comment totals should carry when most of the volume is coordinated rather than spontaneous.

The timing matters. The Biden administration delayed the menthol rule in part because of the volume of feedback. By the time the study appeared, the second Trump administration had already withdrawn both proposed bans from the docket. The lesson is less about which side was right and more about how a regulatory process built on public comment can be flooded by campaigns that look like consensus.