Biden officials indefinitely postpone ban on menthol cigarettes amid election-year pushback
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s administration is indefinitely postponing a long-awaited ban on menthol cigarettes, a decision that angered smoking advocates but could avert a political backlash from Black voters in November.
In a statement Friday, Biden’s top health official did not provide a timeline for issuing the rule, saying only that the administration would take more time to consider feedback, including from civil rights groups.
“It is clear that more conversations need to be had, and that will take significantly more time,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement.
The White House has held dozens of meetings in recent months with groups opposed to the ban, including civil rights organizers, law enforcement and small business owners. Most groups have financial ties to tobacco companies.
The announcement is another setback for officials at the Food and Drug Administration, who drafted the ban and predicted it could prevent hundreds of thousands of smoking-related deaths over the next four decades. The agency has worked across multiple administrations to ban menthol without ever finalizing a rule.
“This decision prioritizes politics over lives, especially Black lives,” Yolonda Richardson of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids said in an emailed statement. “It is especially troubling to see the administration parroting the tobacco industry’s false claims of support from the civil rights community.”
Richardson noted that the ban is supported by groups including the NAACP and the Congressional Black Caucus.
Previous FDA efforts on menthol have been derailed by opposition from the tobacco industry or competing political priorities. With both Biden and former President Donald Trump vying for the support of Black voters, the ban’s potential impact has come under scrutiny from Republicans and Democrats ahead of the fall elections.
Anti-smoking advocates have been pushing the FDA to eliminate the flavor since the agency was given the authority to regulate certain tobacco ingredients in 2009. Menthol is the only cigarette flavor not banned under that law, an exception negotiated by industry allies in Congress. But the law directed the FDA to continue studying the issue.
More than 11% of American adults smoke, with rates about the same between white and black people. But about 80% of black smokers smoke menthol, which the FDA says masks the harshness of smoking, making it easier to start and harder to quit. Moreover, most teens who smoke cigarettes prefer menthols.
For decades, tobacco companies targeted black communities with menthol advertising and promotions, sponsoring music festivals and community events. Industry documents released through lawsuits also show that companies considered menthol cigarettes a good “starter product” because they were more palatable to teenagers.
The FDA released its draft of the proposed ban in 2022. Officials under Biden initially wanted to finalize the rule last August. Late last year, White House officials said it would take until March to review the measure. When that deadline passed last month, several anti-smoking groups filed a lawsuit to force its release.
“We are disappointed with the action of the Biden administration, which has succumbed to the tobacco industry’s scare tactics,” said Dr. Mark Mitchell of the National Medical Association, an African-American doctors’ group that is suing the government.
Separately, the Rev. Al Sharpton and other civil rights leaders have warned that a menthol ban would create an illegal market for cigarettes in black communities and lead to more confrontations with police.
The FDA and health care advocates have long dismissed such concerns, noting that the FDA’s enforcement of the rule would apply only to companies that make or sell cigarettes, and not to individuals.
An FDA spokesperson said Friday that the agency remains committed to banning menthol cigarettes.
“As we have made clear, these product standards remain at the top of our priorities,” Jim McKinney said in a statement.
Smoking can cause cancer, stroke and heart attacks and is responsible for 480,000 deaths per year in the US, including 45,000 among black Americans.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.