Biden Administration Takes Heat After FDA’s Ban on Menthols Announced: ‘Weird Way to Target Low Income Tobacco Users’

Leia IdlibyApr 29th, 2021, 2:30 pm
 

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

The US Food and Drug Administration announced its plan to ban menthol-flavored cigarettes and all flavored cigars on Thursday, and pundits on Twitter are far from thrilled.

“Banning menthol—the last allowable flavor—in cigarettes and banning all flavors in cigars will help save lives, particularly among those disproportionately affected by these deadly products,” Acting FDA Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock said in a statement. “With these actions, the FDA will help significantly reduce youth initiation, increase the chances of smoking cessation among current smokers, and address health disparities experienced by communities of color, low-income populations, and LGBTQ+ individuals, all of whom are far more likely to use these tobacco products.”

The goal of the ban is to “launch us on a trajectory toward ending tobacco-related disease and death in the U.S.” and “significantly reduce disease and death” from flavored tobacco products.

Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, also cited health equity as an aim of the ban, noting that “compared to non-Hispanic White smokers, significantly fewer Black smokers support long-term quitting and Black smokers are more likely to die of tobacco-related disease than White smokers.”

“One study suggests that banning menthol cigarettes in the U.S. would lead an additional 923,000 smokers to quit, including 230,000 African Americans in the first 13 to 17 months after a ban goes into effect,” the FDA statement added.

Notably, the regulations only apply to manufacturers, importers, retailers, and distributors, so no individuals would face charges or consequences due to the ban.

Despite the Biden administration’s intentions, talking heads and pundits from both sides of the aisle were quick to criticize the ban, the ACLU warning that it could have “serious racial justice implications.”

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