Civil rights groups and public health organizations, incensed over what they see as foot-dragging by the Biden administration on a potential ban on menthol cigarettes, met with White House officials this week to push for what they consider to be a life-saving measure.
The groups said the administration might be dragging its feet to avoid possibly alienating Black voters, who are disproportionately more likely to smoke menthols.
“Our concern around the delay is really that, you know, this is no reason for it,” Yolonda Richardson, president and CEO of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, who spoke at the meeting, told CNN. “I’m not in their position, but I think that if you’re weighing two different sort of competing interests that are important to you, then just do the right thing, how about that?”
The US Food and Drug Administration told CNN in October that a ban is a “top priority for the FDA,” and Richardson said that initially, the administration had committed to act before the end of the year.
“This is their rule,” she said. “One would hope that they had felt the science was sufficient.”
She said she left Tuesday’s meeting feeling “fairly positive” that the groups’ concerns been heard, but she also said there is still a feeling that they need to continue to press the administration to act.
“It’s neverending. That’s why we need to take action on the federal level,” McGruder said. “We need protection from this industry that’s rabid and will not stop.”
Her group and the others say they plan to keep the pressure up. On January 18, there will be a “menthol funeral” in Washington to recognize the 45,000 Black people who die each year from tobacco-related illness and to encourage the White House to act now.
If a ban is put in place, then the “real work begins,” McGruder said. There will need to be additional resources, culturally appropriate smoking cessation programs, and efforts to eliminate systemic racism and better address social determinants of health.
“We need the same vigor and attention that the industry gave us in seeding our community with addiction,” McGruder said. “We need that same attention and love from our country, from our government, from the FDA, from the CDC, to help people get off these addictive products.”
SOURCE:CNN