* FDA advisers analyzed marketing messages
* Committee recommendations expected Friday
* Agency will consider panel views (Adds quotes from draft report, comments from industry draft report; updates shares)
By Lisa Richwine
WASHINGTON, March 17 (Reuters) - Marketing messages have led consumers to believe menthol cigarettes may offer health benefits over regular ones, U.S. government advisers said in part of a draft report released on Thursday.
The committee was expected to make recommendations on the future of menthol cigarettes future on Friday, when the outside experts meet for the second of a two-day public meeting. The Food and Drug Administration will consider the advisers' views as it decides whether to ban or otherwise limit menthol.
Any curbs would be a severe blow to top menthol maker Lorillard Inc <LO.N>, which sells the Newport brand. Reynolds American Inc's <RAI.N> R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co and Altria Group Inc's <MO.N> Philip Morris also sell menthol, or mint-flavored, cigarettes.
Health advocates argue menthol flavoring masks the harshness of tobacco, making it easier to start smoking and harder to quit. Manufacturers say adding menthol does not make a cigarette more harmful or addictive.
On Thursday, the advisory committee released a draft chapter examining the marketing of menthol cigarettes compared with non-menthol versions. The advisers said lighter colors and descriptions such as "smooth" and "fresh" helped provide positive associations with menthol.
"Consistent with marketing claims, consumers hold beliefs about the medicinal benefits of menthol and beliefs about other implicit health benefits, and that this is especially the case among African Americans," the draft report said.
The advisers added, however, that "in the context of widespread public education about the health harms of tobacco use, it is uncommon to state an explicit belief that menthol cigarettes are safer or less harmful than non-menthol cigarettes."
Menthols account for nearly one-third of the ${esc.dollar}83 billion in annual U.S. cigarette sales, according to Euromonitor International data.
The issue is racially sensitive as blacks overwhelmingly favor menthol and suffer more from smoking-related illnesses and deaths than whites.
The FDA advisers have a Wednesday deadline to deliver their final menthol report, which was mandated by a 2009 law giving the FDA authority to regulate tobacco. The FDA is not bound by the panel's advice and has no deadline to take any action.
In sections of the draft report released earlier, the advisers said there was a lack of evidence to show menthol cigarettes expose smokers to a higher risk of disease but that the flavoring might make cigarettes more addictive.
Industry representatives on the committee released a draft of their own report on Thursday. It said there was "no scientific basis to support the regulation of menthol cigarettes any differently than non-menthol cigarettes."
The industry also warned of a "dramatically larger illegal cigarette market" if menthol cigarettes were banned.
That would lead to "exposure of smokers to more harmful contraband cigarettes, increased access of youth to tobacco, increased criminal activity particularly in urban communities, reduced government revenues and loss of jobs," the industry draft said.
Lorillard has filed a lawsuit to prevent the FDA from considering the panel's report in making any final decision on the cigarettes. [ID:nN25138916]
Shares of Lorillard gained 0.5 percent to close at ${esc.dollar}78.78, Reynolds shares gained 1 percent to close at ${esc.dollar}32.85, and Altria shares rose 0.6 percent to ${esc.dollar}24.44, all on the New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn, Bernard Orr)
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