The Food and Drug Administration announced on Friday that it will be delaying its decision on whether to issue a total ban on menthol cigarettes, which was supposed to be determined by the end of August.
An FDA spokesperson told CNN that the agency would be acting “in the coming months” despite the fact that the website still lists the self-imposed deadline as August 2023.
JIM BANKS DECLARES WAR ON EGG TYCOON SCRAMBLING INDIANA SENATE RACE
The FDA initially considered a ban on menthol tobacco products in 2013 during the Obama administration after smoking opponents began calling for action in 2009 when Congress exempted menthol from a ban on flavored cigarettes.
In cigarettes and other tobacco products, menthol creates a cooling sensation that makes inhalation easier, which can also change the way the brain processes taste and pain. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this makes it significantly more difficult to quit smoking.
Although advocates of the ban contend that marketing for menthol tobacco products has been disproportionately targeted towards minority communities, black social justice advocates have been sharply critical of the measure on the grounds that it would expose the black community to a greater police presence to block illicit market activity.
Gwen Carr, the mother of Eric Garner, has been a leading voice in the black community against the menthol ban.
Garner was choked to death at the age of 43 by a New York City police officer in Staten Island in an attempt to stop him from selling single cigarettes, or “loosies,” on the illicit market. Enforcement of illicit cigarettes in New York became a higher priority for the NYPD after then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg instituted punitive taxes on cigarettes to disincentivize smoking.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“Further delays [in a ban] will only cause more harm by allowing tobacco companies to continue marketing menthol cigarettes to Black people and harming Black youth,” said President of the American Medical Association, Jesse Ehrenfeld, in a joint statement along with the African American Tobacco Leadership Council, About Action on Smoking & Health, and National Medical Association.
“We implore the FDA to move swiftly to remove these harmful products from the market once and for all and keep them out of the hands of our nation’s youth,” added Ehrenfeld.
