https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/07/biden-administration-delays-ban-on-menthol-cigarettes-until-2024.html
Rather than doing what's best for public health policy, this administration has made it clear that they don't care about this segment of the population, only not losing their votes with policies that would be unpalatable to that demographic.
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The Biden administration has once again delayed banning menthol cigarettes, infuriating officials of public health groups who say the products are responsible for taking hundreds of thousands of American lives.
On Wednesday, the White House quietly updated its Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs website to reflect that any final ban on menthol wouldn't take place until at least March. Even then, it's expected to take years for menthol products to be off store shelves. The ban was previously supposed to take effect by the end of December.
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Black Americans are affected most. Nearly 85% of Black smokers use menthols, compared to 30% of white smokers, according to the FDA.
"Largely because of menthol cigarettes, Black Americans have a harder time quitting smoking and die at higher rates from tobacco-related diseases like cancer, heart disease and stroke," Yolonda Richardson, the president and CEO of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said in a statement. "Research shows that prohibiting menthol cigarettes will save up to 654,000 lives within 40 years, including the lives of 255,000 Black Americans."
Black men have the highest lung cancer death rate in the U.S. According to the CDC, 157,000 African Americans died prematurely because of menthol cigarettes from 1980 to 2018.
Rather than doing what's best for public health policy, this administration has made it clear that they don't care about this segment of the population, only not losing their votes with policies that would be unpalatable to that demographic.