The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a preliminary plan to ban the manufacture and sale of menthol cigarettes. The move would impact millions of American smokers, as over one-third of all cigarettes purchased in the United States are menthols, representing over $20 billion in annual sales.
“The proposed rules would help prevent children from becoming the next generation of smokers and help adult smokers quit,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra. “Additionally, the proposed rules represent an important step to advance health equity by significantly reducing tobacco-related health disparities.”
The FDA press release states that a ban on menthol cigarettes could prevent between 324,000 and 654,000 smoking death over the next 40 years. Of those deaths prevented, 92,000 to 238,000 would be among African Americans.
According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, nearly 81% of black smokers use menthol cigarettes, compared with 30% of white smokers.
The FDA said it would also seek to ban dozens of other flavors like grape and strawberry from cigars, increasingly popular with young people. The FDA press release states that more than a half-million youth in the United States use flavored cigars.
However, the ban would not affect menthol-flavored e-cigarettes. The FDA could also grant case-by-case basis exemptions for certain products, such as heated-tobacco devices or cigarettes with low nicotine levels.
The proposed regulation would not go into effect for at least two years. The FDA will invite public comments on the proposed ban, and the agency will then review them all. Tobacco companies could also file lawsuits against the proposal, which would delay the ban being implemented even more.
This ban would be the most significant action that the FDA has taken to prevent smoking since Congress officially gave them the authority to regulate tobacco products in 2009.
The decision is also motivated by the Biden Administration’s Cancer Moonshot to reduce the death rate from cancer by at least 50% over the next 25 years. Tobacco use is a leading cause of cancer and death from cancer, and approximately 30% of all cancer deaths in the United States are caused by smoking.
In response to the news, Chief Marketing Officer Kingsley Wheaton of the British American Tobacco Company, which also owns R.J. Reynolds, the company that produces Camel cigarettes, released a statement condemning the proposal. He suggested that there are other, more effective methods of reducing smoking.
“The scientific evidence shows no difference in the health risks associated with menthol cigarettes compared to non-menthol cigarettes, nor does it support that menthol cigarettes adversely affect initiation, dependence or cessation,” Wheaton said. “As a result, we do not believe the published science supports regulating menthol cigarettes differently from non-menthol cigarettes.”
The ban was also opposed by African-American leader and President of the National Action Network, Reverand Al Sharpton. He suggested that a potential ban would “promote criminal activity” and increase the number of interactions between African-American youth and police, leading to more police violence and incarceration.
“A menthol ban would impose serious risks,” Sharpton said, “including increasing the illegal sale of smuggled, black market menthol cigarettes as well as the street sales of individual menthol cigarettes — ‘loosies’ and in turn place menthol smokers at a significant risk of entering the criminal justice system.”
The FDA will publish the exact details in The Federal Register on May 4. A 60-day open response period would begin from that date, allowing the public to share their opinions on the potential move.
What right does the FDA have to ban menthol cigarettes? They should be thinking about a whole lot of other products to ban . And why is everything made racial. No one puts a gun to a black persons head and says ‘BUY THESE’. It is getting ridiculous. And ‘no’ I am not a smoker!