Posted on 04/29/2021 12:20:06 PM PDT by sodpoodle
April 29 (UPI) -- The Food and Drug Administration announced Thursday that it is proposing a ban on the sale of menthol cigarettes in the United States.
The announcement begins a long regulatory process, resulting in menthol cigarettes being available for about two more years even if the ban is eventually adopted. The tobacco industry is expected to challenge the decision.
The FDA decision would also ban all flavored cigars. The agency did not include menthol-flavored electronic cigarettes. Menthol is the last allowable flavor for cigarettes.
The proposed ban was prompted by a citizen petition that allows the public to request policy changes at the FDA. A court ruled in favor of a resulting lawsuit that accused the FDA of unreasonably delaying its final response to the petition asking for a ban, which was filed in 2013.
RELATED FDA faces deadline to consider banning menthol cigarettes in U.S. The agency faced a deadline of Thursday to respond
Menthol cigarettes cause more harm to Black Americans, research suggests. Black men currently have the highest rates of lung cancer in the country.
"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," said Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock, in a press release.
RELATED FDA bans products that help teens hide vaping Dr. Richard Besser, president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and former acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the FDA has taken "a historic, lifesaving step."
"Banning menthol cigarettes will most assuredly save lives, eliminate great suffering, and reduce health care costs," he said, according to NBC News.
The lawsuit seeking the ban was filed by the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council and Action on Smoking and Health.
RELATED Menthol e-cigarettes contain unsafe levels of known carcinogen, study finds According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 85% of Black American smokers prefer menthol cigarettes compared to 29% of White smokers.
A spokesman for Altria, one of the world's largest producers and marketers of tobacco, said in a statement that "criminalizing menthol" would have "serious unintended consequences."
The tobacco industry has specifically marketed menthol cigarettes to Black Americans in the past, including sponsoring musical events like a jazz festival and racing teams named for the Kool brand, AATCLC co-chair Phillip Gardiner told The Washington Post.
The FDA has previously attempted to ban menthol cigarettes in the United States. Former FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb led the most recent failed effort in 2018.
The tobacco industry has spent millions over the years lobbying Congress to oppose a possible ban. The industry has said menthol cigarettes are no more harmful than regular cigarettes and proposed bans have drawn bipartisan opposition from organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union and civil rights groups.
Yet you can still attach electrodes to the head of a child and pass 400 volts through his/her head, causing permanent brain damage and often, immediate death, and the FDA is fine with this.
I can already foresee a thriving black market. Heck, I can foresee some enterprising individuals offering flavoring kits and/or services for tobacco products.
a thriving black market...........................
That’s wayciss!...............
We have to ban menthol cigarettes because..... Racist...
Good lord, how much more of this crap is the public going to accept?
Biden will try to ban alcohol next!
Back to Prohibition!
Hands off my colt45!/s
This is racist and illegally targets the poor black Menthol smoker.
It’s all about control.
I used to love a big wad of Beech Nut Wintergreen chewing tobacco when commercial fishing. A hint of mint and great spitting.
Read where the menthol crystalizes in the lungs.
Don’t hold your breath waiting for the MSM to cover this with the “Minorities Hardest Hit” headlines.
Next up: colt 45
....and they can’t easily switch to the safer vaping alternative because....government.
Trump raised the smoking age to 21 in a similar move a few years back.
Tobacco will be banned soon. And Mary Jane legal.
What an odd time.
“Yet you can still attach electrodes to the head of a child ... and the FDA is fine with this.”
Umm, since when is the FDA supposed to regulate things like that?
Mary Jane is basically Soma (Brave New World).
in my misspent youth, we would camp out in a remote spot and choke/smoke swisher sweets flavored cigars, ‘figure out’ women and generally bond and talk amongst ourselves. would not trade those times for the world even though it was not healthy. this is how young men grew up back in the day. ‘merka i don’t recognize u . . .
Shocking the brains out of people is a fully approved treatment regimen.
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