Biden administration announces delay on potential ban of menthol cigarettes

The Biden administration announced on Friday that it was delaying a possible ban on menthol cigarettes, claiming more conversations were needed before it could finalize the ban. 

The United States Food & Drug Administration said it was adding the mint flavor to its list of banned flavors of cigarettes in April of 2022. It sent a list of proposed rules to the White House for review in October, and set a deadline for action to be taken by March, which it missed, CNN reported. All other cigarette flavors were banned in 2009.

Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said the rules had garnered a lot of attention that proved more discussion on the topic was necessary before the administration could move forward.

“This rule has garnered historic attention and the public comment period has yielded an immense amount of feedback, including from various elements of the civil rights and criminal justice movement,” Becerra said in a statement. “It’s clear that there are still more conversations to have, and that will take significantly more time.”

He did not provide a clear timeline on when the final decision on the ban would be made.

The potential menthol ban has been an important issue for President Joe Biden this election cycle, and most significantly impacts black people. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said minority groups, including black people, have been largely targeted by tobacco companies.

Smoking cigarettes is the biggest preventable cause of death, according to the CDC. It is responsible for nearly half a million deaths each year, and second-hand smoke is responsible for more than 41,000 deaths each year.

The ban has been supported by the Congressional Black Caucus and the NAACP, who claim the ban would save the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in the black community. But opponents of the ban argue it would criminalize a product that is largely used by black people, according to The Hill.