The Biden Administration has delayed plans to ban menthol cigarettes in a proposal announced by the Food and Drug Administration. years ago.
“There’s still a lot more to talk about and it’s going to take a lot more time,” Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement Friday.
The The FDA has announced plans to ban menthol cigarettes in 2021followed by Proposed rules for ban in 2022. The move was intended to improve the health of smokers, including children and black Americans.
according to FDA, About 85% of black smokers use menthol cigarettes, compared to only 30% of white smokers. There are black men highest lung cancer death rate In the United States, both black men and women are less likely to be diagnosed at an early stage than white Americans.
The proposed ban — now delayed — has raised questions about its impact on black voters months before the disputed presidential election.
There is a ban delayed at least oncewith His promises to take effect by the end of last year have come and gone. At the time, the White House quietly updated its information Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs website reflecting that any final ban on menthol won’t happen until at least March.
At the time of the December delay, an official with the national health group working to pull the products off the market told NBC News they were “deeply concerned” the ban would not go into effect before the 2024 election.
“In an election year, it becomes difficult to get things done because people are distracted and bandwidth is stretched,” the official said in December.
Becerra’s statement did not say whether or when the ban would be enacted by the Biden Administration, nor did it provide further details on the conversations surrounding it.
After the delay was announced Friday afternoon, anti-smoking and health advocates began voicing their frustration.
“Two years after issuing proposed regulations backed by extensive scientific evidence — and more than a decade after the FDA began investigating menthol cigarettes — the administration has not taken decisive action to remove these deadly, addictive products from the market,” said Nancy Brown, director of the American Heart Association. director general made a statement. “The administration’s inaction allows the tobacco industry to continue to aggressively market these products and attract and become addicted to new users.”
Harold Wimmer, president and CEO of the American Lung Association, said the organization was “deeply troubled” by the White House’s delay in taking action.
“Every day that President Biden fails to finalize these regulations, he loses an incredible opportunity to reduce tobacco-related deaths and illnesses. Ending the sale of menthol cigarettes would help address serious health disparities among tobacco users in the United States,” Wimmer said in a statement.
Laurent Huber, executive director of Action on Smoking and Health, said 789,724 Americans who smoke daily, including 199,732 black smokers, are expected to quit after the ban takes effect.
Carol McGruder, co-chair of the African American Tobacco Control Steering Council, echoed her concerns after the delay. “If the Biden Administration believed that Black lives mattered, they would stop selling menthol-flavored cigarettes. Instead, they are pandering to Big Tobacco, which has racially targeted our community for decades,” McGruder said.
“Hundreds of thousands of black Americans will die in the coming years because of today’s inaction,” he said. “Shame on you, President Biden!”