black smokers who use them most heavily. we get more from rehema ellis. reporter: the fda has talked about the dangers of menthol cigarettes for years today the agency is proposing to ban them. the proposed product standards would, among other things, improve the health and reduce the mortality risk of current smokers of menthol cigarettes or flavored cigars. reporter: menthol makes up one-third of all cigarettes sold in the united states, and a ban would overwhelmingly impact black and young people i was planning on quitting anyway. reporter: research shows 85% of black smokers use menthol cigarettes, compared with 29% of white smokers. the cdc says smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer, and black men have the highest rates of that disease. if this ban goes through, how significant would it be in terms of affecting the health of all americans this is a landmark regulation that fda is proposing. our projections are that 1.33 million