The White House’s recent announcement that it would continue to delay a new Food and Drug Administration rule to eliminate menthol cigarettes represents a stunning reversal of what would be a monumental win for public health, particularly in Black communities across the country.
Despite what you may have heard from Big Tobacco’s scare tactics — of which there are many — banning menthol flavoring would save hundreds of thousands of lives, quickly eliminate lung cancer disparities between Black Americans and other racial groups, protect our children from a deadly, lifelong addiction, and right decades of a perpetuated, malicious wrong.
The delay of this lifesaving ban prioritizes politics over Black lives, especially considering it comes just weeks after tobacco industry lobbyists met with key policymakers in the Biden administration.
As a minister, supporting swift implementation of this ban is a moral obligation. As a long-time menthol smoker and Black American, it’s personal. Black Americans have been at the mercy of Big Tobacco’s deliberate, racist and predatory marketing for far too long.
For decades, the industry has willfully targeted communities of color with ad campaigns, discounts, promotions and sponsored cultural events designed to glorify and sell menthol cigarettes. They have donated millions to our civic organizations to divide us against ourselves.
Walk through our neighborhoods and it’s impossible to miss the glut of cigarette ads aimed squarely at us or the horrific impact they have had on our lives. Menthol cigarettes and the tobacco industry are — quite literally — robbing our communities of life.
The impact on Black health has been enormous. Today, 85% of Black smokers use menthol cigarettes, compared to just 10% in the 1950s. Black Americans smoke at about the same rate as the entire population but, largely because of menthol, have a harder time quitting and die at higher rates from tobacco-related diseases like cancer, heart disease and stroke.
Overall, tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in the Black community, killing 45,000 Black Americans every year. This is a public health crisis without equal — and the real crime is that it’s preventable.
As a smoker for more than 20 years, I am well aware that these products are more addictive and harder to quit. Tobacco addiction has been the most difficult challenge I’ve faced in my life. This carnage must end now. We cannot allow this reprehensible industry to profit off Black lives for a moment longer.
Removing menthol cigarettes from store shelves represents a monumental opportunity to hit Big Tobacco where it hurts — right in the pocketbook — and free future generations from the biochemical bondage that stems from these highly addictive products.
Not surprisingly, Big Tobacco has been pushing back against the menthol cigarette ban — hard. The industry is preying on the very real fear of police abuse, saying that removing menthol cigarettes from the market will drive sales underground and that the ban will increase police brutality for Black Americans.
And even though the FDA rules will apply to manufacturers and retailers of menthol cigarettes, not individuals, this false narrative set up by the tobacco industry has unfortunately convinced some people that the criminal justice implications of further regulating menthol cigarettes are too great and too grave. I vehemently disagree.
We cannot allow the tobacco industry to engage in fearmongering about law enforcement so it can continue robbing Black Americans of their lives to drive their own profits. Focusing our fear on potential law enforcement abuse only serves to draw attention away from both the deadly health impacts of cigarette use and holding police accountable for their illegal abuse.
Law enforcement abuse in our communities is a serious problem, but so is the tobacco industry’s targeting of those same communities. Both can and must be addressed. The bottom line: This isn’t about criminalizing smoking. It’s about protecting our kids, families, neighborhoods and lives.
The recent delay in the FDA’s final rule is the latest evidence of Big Tobacco’s influence to gut important public health policies all for the sake of their own profit. Today, I call on all my brothers and sisters to say, “No more.” No more industry lies. No more deadly marketing for the sake of profit. No more hooking our children on poisonous products. It’s past time for the industry’s sinful practice of exploiting Black lives and communities to come to an end.
The Biden administration must quickly reverse course and end its outrageous delay on a game-changing menthol ban.
Foy is president and CEO of The Arc of Justice, a national social, economic, and environmental justice advocacy organization.