Biden Administration Indefinitely Delays Implementing Menthol Cigarette Ban

The Biden administration said it will indefinitely delay implementing a menthol cigarette ban, NPR reports.

In a statement, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said, “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. It’s clear that there are still more conversations to have, and that will take significantly more time.”

The announcement has outraged anti-smoking advocates. “This decision prioritizes politics over lives, especially Black lives,” Yolonda C. Richardson, President and CEO of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said in a statement. The ban on menthol cigarettes was first proposed more than two years ago, after extensive research on the effects of menthol flavoring.

The original ban on menthol cigarettes was proposed over two years ago, after extensive research on the effects of the minty flavoring. Menthol makes up over one-third of U.S. tobacco sales, but is disproportionately marketed in Black communities, the article notes. As many as 85% of Black smokers smoke menthol cigarettes.