Menthol cigarettes are killing black Americans. Lawyers are calling on the government to change that

a 1963 advertisement for Kool cigarettes shows a black man and woman, both with lighted cigarettes in their hands. The man smiles down at the woman, who looks into the distance as she blows a stream of smoke from her mouth. The accompanying text reads: “Only Kool gives you rich, smooth tobaccos… and extra coolness… a refreshing coolness that sucks you so smoothly through Kool’s pure white filter… from the very first cigarette in the morning to your last cigarette in the evening.”

An advertisement from 1971 from the cigarette brand L&M shows a black woman enjoying a luxurious bath. One arm dangles from the side of the bath, while the other holds a lit cigarette. “Everyone is in bed and I’m going there soon, but not yet because the bath is so soothing and I can relax,” the ad reads. “This… is the L&M moment.”

And a Kool ad from 2006 shows a black man, wearing an all-black leather outfit, holding a cigarette while staring out a window. The only text on the ad is the surgeon general’s warning.

The ads, which began as part of a 1960s campaign by the tobacco industry, were aggressive brought on the market highly addictive menthol cigarettes for black people for decades. Some black publications even became dependent on tobacco advertising to stay afloat, and marketers identified people in black communities, such as hairdressers, to provide free samples to customers to help build a new market.

The campaigns were largely successful: between 1980 and 2018, 1.5 million Black Americans started smoking menthol, and 157,000 Black Americans died prematurely from smoking-related deaths. In 2020, about 81% of black smokers smoked menthol cigarettes, compared to 34% of white smokers.

But the success of tobacco lobbyists and advertisers in creating a consumer market could soon come to an end.

Last Tuesday, anti-smoking groups sued the US government on the delay in passing a proposed ban on menthol cigarettes. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been trying to ban menthol for fifteen years and estimates that it could prevent 300,000 to 650,000 smoking-related deaths over decades. But the tobacco industry lobby has repeatedly pushed back on efforts by lawmakers and advocates.

“As African American physicians, we are deeply troubled by the continued delays in finalizing the FDA’s ban on menthol cigarettes,” Dr. Yolanda Lawson, president of the National Medical Association, said in a statement. “Our patients, more than any other group, become disabled and die prematurely as a result of the continued use of these cigarettes.”

White House officials had said they would review the proposal last month, but that deadline passed without any action. When the Biden administration initially set the March 2024 deadline, it did so out of concern about how the ban could affect Biden’s performance in an already highly competitive election year. the Washington Post reported last year.

Tobacco lobbies have argued that such a ban would jeopardize the president’s chances with black voters, and that some black public figures, such as the Rev. Al Sharpton, have said the ban could lead to increased criminalization of black menthol smokers. However, proponents argue that because the rule keeps being delayed, people will have to pay for the consequences with their lives.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost all people who smoke cigarettes started smoking in adolescence or young adulthood. And those who start smoking with menthol cigarettes are more likely to continue smoking into adulthood. Menthol cigarettes are considered addictive than regular cigarettes, because they enhance the effect of nicotine on the brain (in recent years, some companies have increased the amount of nicotine in menthol cigarettes). Menthol is the only cigarette flavor that was not banned under a 2009 law that gave the FDA authority over tobacco products, an exemption negotiated by tobacco lobbyists.

Although cigarette smoking has declined overall over the past two decades, there has been an increase in the number of menthol smokers, especially among young adults, racial minorities, women, and people with mental health problems. Anti-menthol advocates filed their first court case pushing for a ban on menthol cigarettes in 2020, estimating that nearly 40,000 Americans have died since then from using menthol cigarettes.

“The FDA’s own research confirms that a menthol ban would save lives,” Laurent Huber, executive director of Action on Smoking and Health, said in a statement. “There is no scientific reason to delay finalization of this rule.”