The Biden Administration is about to implement a long-awaited ban on menthol cigarettes, something health professionals and anti-smoking advocates have wanted for decades, as a way to stop new smokers from picking up the habit, the Associated Press reports.
Menthol was the only cigarette flavor permitted after a 2009 law that gave the Food and Drug Administration jurisdiction over consumer sales of tobacco. Elimination of menthol tobacco products has been discussed since then, but tobacco lobbying groups have prevented any action.
“The concern with this process is that, in the past, political considerations have overtaken the scientific analysis of the FDA,” said Matthew Myers of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. “But I’m optimistic that the rule will come out in substantially the same form as the agency proposed it.”
The move could save as many as 630,000 lives over the next 40 years, with one third of those lives saved being in the Black community.