WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is walking away from a plan to permanently bar menthol cigarettes, for now.
Regulators had already pushed back the ban several times amid concerns that it would unfairly target Black smokers and potentially alienate voters. Yet the regulation is heavily backed by public health groups and a number of federal health officials, who insist it is still in the works, just delayed — again.
“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,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. “It’s clear that there are still more conversations to have, and that will take significantly more time.”
The Wall Street Journal first reported that Biden planned to drop the rule entirely, though people at HHS said that is not the case. HHS did not lay out a new timeline for the rule.
The Food and Drug Administration, which oversees tobacco products, already missed a self-imposed deadline to release the rule by the end of March. White House and senior health officials met last fall with a group of Black law enforcement officers and tobacco industry lobbyists who argued against a broad menthol ban.
Cigarette companies have historically marketed the minty cigarettes to Black communities and for years courted prominent Black community leaders, including pastors and lawmakers, to oppose bans for fear of over-policing and criminal justice disparities.
Yet in recent years, leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus have vocally supported menthol restrictions, arguing deliberate marketing to Black communities fueled millions of new tobacco users and deaths over the years.
“The FDA’s experts have been clear that menthol cigarettes are harmful to public health. This is a commonsense plan which could have saved hundreds of thousands of lives,” Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Ill.), chair of the CBC’s Health Braintrust, said in a statement.
“President Biden promised to follow the science,” said Erika Sward, assistant vice president of the American Lung Association. “More kids will start to smoke, and people who would otherwise quit will not.”