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The Biden administration indefinitely delayed implementation of a long-awaited ban on menthol tobacco merchandise, angering anti-smoking advocates who say the White Home is prioritizing politics over public well being.
The controversy, particularly inside the black group, is likely one of the causes Well being and Human Companies Secretary Xavier Becerra cited as justification for withdrawing the proposed ban. In an announcement, Becerra stated the rule sparked “an immense quantity of remark, together with from varied parts of the civil rights and prison justice motion,” including that resolving the problems “will take for much longer.”
The unique ban on menthol cigarettes was proposed greater than two years in the past, after in depth analysis into the results of mint taste.
Many public well being advocacy teams expressed dismay, arguing that the general public well being debate was settled a long time in the past.
“This determination prioritizes politics over lives, particularly Black lives,” Yolanda Richardson, president and CEO of the Marketing campaign for Tobacco-Free Children, stated in an announcement. “It’s particularly disturbing to see the administration parroting the tobacco business's false claims about assist from the civil rights group.”
“The administration's inaction is permitting the tobacco business to proceed to aggressively market these merchandise and appeal to and addict new customers,” Nancy Brown, CEO of the American Coronary heart Affiliation, stated in an announcement.
Menthol accounts for greater than a 3rd of tobacco gross sales in america, however is disproportionately marketed to Black communities, in addition to ladies and LGBTQ populations. As much as 85% of black people who smoke smoke menthol cigarettes, a well being threat that additionally explains why lung most cancers charges are greater in that group. So the problem of banning menthol cigarettes – or proscribing entry to them – has divided the black group.
Some civil rights leaders, notably the Rev. Al Sharpton, have obtained assist from the tobacco business and have argued that a ban on menthol cigarettes would result in elevated policing of black communities.