Biden Administration Delays Decision on Menthol Cigarette Ban

Roughly 81 percent of black adults who smoke cigarettes use menthol varieties, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Packs of menthol-flavored and nonmenthol cigarettes are displayed for sale in a smoke shop in Los Angeles on April 28, 2022. Mario Tama/Getty Images

The Biden administration announced a further delay on an expected ban of menthol cigarettes after considering the costs and benefits of addressing health concerns and the apparent appeasement of black voters in an election year.

“This rule has garnered historic attention, and the public comment period has yielded an immense amount of feedback, including from various elements of the civil rights and criminal justice movement,” said U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra in an April 26 statement. “It’s clear that there are still more conversations to have, and that will take significantly more time.”

Menthols make up more than 30 percent of annual cigarette sales in the United States and are used predominantly by black and Latino smokers.

In fact, roughly 81 percent of black adults who smoke cigarettes use menthol varieties, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

White House officials have held dozens of meetings with groups opposing the menthol ban, including civil rights activists and business owners, and some suggested that the ban could suppress President Biden’s turnout among black voters.

“I am pleased that the Biden Administration understands the civil rights harm that could result from a menthol ban in the Black Community,” said Sybrina Fulton, mother of the late Trayvon Martin, on X. “I look forward to working with the Biden administration toward effective prevention solutions as it relates to smoking in our great country.”

However, not all black voters appear to share that opinion.

“In an election year, politicians should be prioritizing people, not profiteers. Today’s news from the Biden Administration is a blow to the Black community, who continue to be unfairly targeted and unjustly killed by Big Tobacco,” said NAACP President Derrick Johnson.

Some Democrats Not Happy

Criticism of the decision is also emerging from President Biden’s own party.

Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Ill.), chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust, released a statement saying she was “deeply disappointed” in the FDA’s decision to abandon what she saw as “a commonsense plan which could have saved hundreds of thousands of lives.”

She said black Americans’ increased use of menthol cigarettes contributed to the disproportionate suffering in the black community from tobacco-related diseases, and reaffirmed her commitment to “curb the harmful impacts of tobacco on communities of color and ensure that health equity is at the center of federal public health policy.”

An organization called the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council called the tobacco industry “the biggest killer of black men,” stating that menthol cigarettes have killed 1 million black people in the past 20 years and posting the FDA Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee’s data stating that between 2009 and 2020, half a million black children started smoking because of menthol cigarettes.

Menthol was the only flavor that was not banned when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gained the authority to regulate certain tobacco ingredients in 2009.

The FDA has been working since 2022 to develop a rule that eliminates menthol from cigarettes, estimating that a ban could prevent 300,000 to 650,000 smoking deaths over decades, most of which would be among minority groups. The agency previously stated that the additive helps boost the appeal of cigarettes, adding that the mint taste and aroma reduce the harshness of smoking, and the menthol variants enhance nicotine’s addictive effects.

The White House previously announced that it would take until late March to review the rule. That deadline passed, and on April 2, three nonprofit groups, including the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council, filed a lawsuit in a federal court in California.

“Because of defendants’ inaction, tobacco companies have continued to use menthol cigarettes to target youth, women, and the Black community—all to the detriment of public health,” the groups stated in their complaint.

However, some see that the fight needs to go beyond just tobacco and menthol.

Gov. Mike DeWine (R–Ohio) released a statement announcing his disappointment in the decision and added that “a new generation of Americans is becoming addicted to nicotine because of flavored tobacco and vaping products, including menthol. We need a uniform national flavor ban right away!”

The Associated Press and Stephen Katte contributed to this report.