WASHINGTON — For the second time in recent months, President Joe Biden's administration has postponed a plan to ban menthol cigarettes, a choice that is bound to anger anti-smoking advocates but could prevent Black voters from turning out ahead of the election be upset in November.
In an announcement Friday, Biden's top health official didn’t provide a timeline for the rule's adoption, saying only that the administration would take more time to think about feedback, including from civil rights groups.
“It is clear that there are additional discussions to be had, and that will take significantly more time,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in an announcement.
The White House has held dozens of meetings in recent months with groups against the ban, including civil rights activists, law enforcement officials and small business owners. Most groups have financial ties to tobacco corporations.
The announcement is one other setback for Food and Drug Administration officials who drafted the ban and predicted it will prevent tons of of 1000’s of smoking-related deaths over 40 years. The agency has worked to ban menthol for greater than a decade across multiple administrations without ever establishing a final rule.
Previous FDA efforts on menthol were stymied by opposition from the tobacco industry or competing political priorities. With each Biden and former President Donald Trump vying for the support of Black voters, the ban's potential impact has been scrutinized by Republicans and Democrats alike ahead of the autumn election.
Anti-smoking advocates have been pushing the FDA to eliminate the flavour because the agency gained authority to manage certain tobacco ingredients in 2009. Menthol is the one cigarette flavor that was not banned under the law, an exemption negotiated by industry allies in Congress. However, the law directed the FDA to proceed investigating the problem.
More than 11% of adults within the United States smoke, with rates about equal between whites and blacks. But about 80% of black smokers smoke menthol, which the FDA says masks the harshness of smoking, making it easier to start out and harder to quit. Most teenagers who smoke cigarettes also smoke menthol.
The FDA released its draft of the proposed ban in 2022. Biden officials initially got down to finalize the rule last August. Late last yr, White House officials said they would want until March to review the measure. When that deadline expired last month, several anti-smoking groups filed a lawsuit to force the article's release.
Separately, the Rev. Al Sharpton and other civil rights activists have warned that a menthol ban would create an illegal marketplace for cigarettes and result in more confrontations with police in black communities.
The FDA and health advocates have long dismissed such concerns, mentioning that FDA's enforcement of the rule would only apply to corporations that make or sell cigarettes, not individuals.
Proponents of the plan have sought to reassure the White House that eliminating menthol wouldn’t dent Biden's support amongst black voters.
“There is no political discussion here other than the manufactured arguments of tobacco lobbyists and those who paid them,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson said before the newest announcement. “It is in the best interest of the African American community to ensure their health is a top priority.”
Smoking may cause cancer, strokes and heart attacks and is blamed for 480,000 deaths every year within the U.S., including 45,000 amongst black Americans.
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