Menthol cigarettes should be banned, like other flavored tobacco, in legislation now before Congress, seven former U.S. health secretaries said.

A provision allowing menthol, the most popular flavor for cigarettes, is “a loophole big enough for a herd of wild animals to romp through and trample the health of African-Americans,” according to a letter sent today to lawmakers.

Almost 75 percent of African-American smokers use menthol cigarettes, according to the letter, organized by former health secretaries Joseph A. Califano Jr. and Louis Sullivan. The exemption for menthol flavoring was one of the compromises that produced the legislation, which is backed by Altria Group Inc.’s Philip Morris USA, the nation’s biggest tobacco maker, as well as health groups critical of the industry.

“Tobacco companies know that one of the most effective ways to boost sales is to make cigarettes more palatable to first-time smokers by disguising the unpleasant taste of inhaled smoke and adding a fresh, minty flavor and cooling effect,” the officials said in the letter.

Cigarette smoking accounts for about one in five deaths in the U.S., and lawmakers have debated how to control the $89 billion U.S. tobacco industry. The legislation approved by House and Senate committees would give the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate tobacco, although not to ban it.

The legislation is supported by more than 200 voting members of the House and 56 senators, including Republican presidential candidate John McCain of Arizona and Democratic candidate Barack Obama of Illinois. McCain was one of the first to back FDA regulation of tobacco in 1997.

Similar proposals failed in 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2005. The Senate passed legislation twice in 2004, only to be defeated by the Republican leadership in the House. Supporters of FDA regulation have said they hope to pass a law this year.

In addition to Califano and Sullivan, the letter to lawmakers was signed by former Health and Human Services Secretaries Donna E. Shalala, Tommy Thompson, Otis Bowen, Richard Schweiker and David Mathews.