Biden administration US ban on menthol cigarettes delayed
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[April 02, 2024]
(Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's proposal to
ban menthol flavored cigarettes in the United States faced another
setback, according to anti-tobacco advocates who noted that White House
officials have missed another deadline to issue a final rule on a ban.
The White House declined to comment.
Menthol cigarettes account for a third of the industry's overall market
share in the United States. The highly addictive products have been
cited for their appeal to young smokers, as well as significant health
impacts for Black communities, where they are marketed heavily.
After the FDA in 2022 issued a long-awaited proposal to ban menthol
cigarettes, several health and anti-smoking groups urged the Biden
administration to enforce it.
The Administration delayed issuing a final rule in December and now has
missed the new deadline it set to issue the rule by March 2024,
according to a statement on Monday from the Campaign for Tobacco Free
Kids and the NAACP, both of which support the FDA's push for a ban of
menthol cigarettes.
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Civil rights groups have contended for years that menthol cigarettes
pose a disproportionately higher risk in Black communities, where they
are heavily marketed.
About 81% of Black adults who smoked cigarettes used menthol varieties,
compared with 34% of white adults, according to the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
States including Massachuseftts and California have previously banned
all flavored tobacco products.
U.S.-focused tobacco company Altria and rival British American Tobacco
both get more than 20% of their revenue from menthol, Morningstar
analyst Philip Gorham estimated in notes in March.
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![](../images/040224PIX/health50.jpg)
Newport and Camel cigarettes are stacked on a shelf inside a tobacco
store in New York July 11, 2014. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/File Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Apr/02/images/ads/current/businessdirectory_dailycover_2023.png) Altria has the largest exposure,
Gorham said, though British American also has high sales of menthol
versions of top brands like Newport.
BAT cited uncertainty around the menthol ban as one factor in its
decision to write down the value of some of its U.S. cigarette
brands last year.
Over 100 organizations, including the NAACP, the American Medical
Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics, placed a full
page ad in the Washington Post recently calling on Biden not to
further delay the ban.
"It is deeply disappointing that the Biden Administration appears
likely to miss another deadline to issue a final FDA rule
eliminating menthol cigarettes," Yolonda Richardson, president the
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said on Thursday as the deadline
approached.
"Research shows that eliminating menthol cigarettes will reduce the
number of kids who start smoking, increase the number of smokers who
quit, and save up to 654,000 lives within 40 years, including
255,000 Black lives," she said in a statement.
(Reporting by Juveria Tabassum, Emma Rumney and Ahmed Aboulenein;
Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Bill Berkrot)
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