Biden delays plan to ban menthol cigarettes amid widespread opposition

President Biden’s administration is delaying the menthol cigarette ban amid widespread opposition.

In the announcement made on Friday, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra gave no timeline, only saying only that the administration would take more time to consider feedback.

“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,” Mr Becerra said.

“It’s clear that there are still more conversations to have, and that will take significantly more time.”

The announcement is another setback for Food and Drug Administration officials, who drafted the ban and predicted it would prevent hundreds of thousands of smoking-related deaths over 40 years, the Associated Press reported.

More than 11 per cent of US adults smoke, with rates roughly even between white and Black people. But about 80 per cent of Black smokers smoke menthol, which the FDA says masks the harshness of smoking, making it easier to start and harder to quit. Also, most teenagers who smoke cigarettes prefer menthols.

Smoking can cause cancer, strokes and heart attacks and is blamed for 480,000 deaths each year in the US, including 45,000 among Black Americans.

“This decision prioritizes politics over lives, especially Black lives,” said Yolonda Richardson of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, in an emailed statement to the Associated Press.

“It is especially disturbing to see the administration parrot the false claims of the tobacco industry about support from the civil rights community.”

Ms Richardson also said that the ban is supported by groups including the NAACP and the Congressional Black Caucus.

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