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President Joe Biden’s administration is delaying its potential plan to ban menthol cigarettes after concerns about the political implications ahead of the 2024 election. The administration planned to announce Friday that it will delay its decision on the rule, people familiar with the matter told the WSJ. While the administration plans to argue that it needs to consult more outside groups on the implications of the rule, there is no current timeline to revisit the issue, the sources told the WSJ. Health and Human Services (HHS) Sec. Xavier Becerra confirmed the news in a statement Friday afternoon, saying the potential...

WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) – As millions of Americans head to their local gas station or store to purchase a new pack of Marlboro’s or Newport’s, they may soon see that their favorite type of cigarettes are no longer available for purchase. According to an announcement made by the Food & Drug Administration back in 2022, the agency had begun planning to “propose product standards to prohibit menthol as a characterizing flavor in cigarettes and prohibit all characterizing flavors (other than tobacco) in cigars,” due to “menthol being a flavor additive with a minty taste and aroma that reduces the irritation...

WASHINGTON (AP) — White House officials will take more time to review a sweeping plan from U.S. health regulators to ban menthol cigarettes, an unexpected delay that anti-tobacco groups fear could scuttle the long-awaited rule. Administration officials indicated Wednesday the process will continue into next year, targeting March to implement the rule, according to an updated regulatory agenda posted online. Previously, the rule was widely expected to be published in late 2023 or early January.

The mother of Eric Garner sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on Thursday asking him to oppose the Biden administration’s proposed ban on menthol cigarettes, which she says could lead to “increased negative encounters with police in communities of color.” “Senator Schumer, you have been a longstanding advocate for the people of New York and have shown a commitment to tackling tough issues with both courage and compassion,” Gwen Carr wrote in a Nov. 9 missive exclusively obtained by The Post. “It is with respect for your role and faith in your leadership that I urge...

The Food and Drug Administration will release its official plan to phase out minty tobacco products 'in the coming months', setting the policy up to be implemented in 2024. It first announced that it would ban menthol cigarettes in April 2022 in what would be its most consequential regulatory move against Big Tobacco since 2009 when Congress banned all flavors in cigarettes – save for menthol. Researchers from the American Cancer Society also concluded that the ban led to the state smoking rate to fall by one percentage point more compared to states without a ban. Still, Massachusetts law enforcement...

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is planning to ban the use of menthol cigarettes in America, a move that had been called on by anti-tobacco groups, anti-teen smoking groups, racial justice groups in America. The move had been expected since the beginning of the Biden administration last year, when the President made it a priority to tackle upward trends in teen smoking. Menthol cigarettes - often colloquially referred to as just 'menthols' - are known for their mint-like flavor, and have been associated with the higher rates of smoking, and smoking-related illnesses, in black Americans over recent decades. Flavored...

"Long-awaited action" should reduce youth smoking, health disparitiesAfter more than a decade of discussing a ban on menthol in tobacco products, on Thursday the FDA finally proposed rules to eliminate menthol additives in cigarettes and all flavors other than tobacco in cigars. The rules would apply to heated tobacco products, although FDA Commissioner Robert M. Califf, MD, said in a press briefing that decisions about menthol electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) products are pending. Those decisions will be based on data presented by each manufacturer that wants to keep their ENDS products on the market, he added. The actions against...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government on Thursday released its long-awaited plan to ban menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars, citing the toll on Black smokers and young people. “The proposed rules would help prevent children from becoming the next generation of smokers and help adult smokers quit,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, in a statement. He added that the ban would also be an “important step to advance health equity” by reducing disparities in tobacco-related diseases. The Food and Drug Administration said eliminating menthol cigarettes could prevent between 300,000 and 650,000 smoking deaths over 40 years. Menthol...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to introduce a nationwide ban on the sale of menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars this spring, a move intended to reduce racial health disparities in tobacco-related diseases and death. But the proposal has divided racial justice advocates who debate whether the health benefits would come at the risk of further criminalizing Black communities. The FDA gave itself until April to draw up rules that limit the sale of menthol cigarettes, which are easier to smoke and harder to quit than unflavored products. The tobacco industry’s marketing of menthols included a targeted campaign...

Biden claimed to regret how his drug warrior legacy led to mass incarceration. But the prohibition will lead to harsher policing in Black communities. It's like the president hasn't learned a thing from the failed and evil War on Drugs. This is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed are those of the author. Joe Biden clearly hasn't learned a thing from the failed and immoral War on Drugs - a disaster that he played a huge part in creating. The president on Thursday ordered the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban menthol cigarettes, a plan first reported on Wednesday...

April 29 (UPI) -- The Food and Drug Administration announced Thursday that it is proposing a ban on the sale of menthol cigarettes in the United States. The announcement begins a long regulatory process, resulting in menthol cigarettes being available for about two more years even if the ban is eventually adopted. The tobacco industry is expected to challenge the decision. The FDA decision would also ban all flavored cigars. The agency did not include menthol-flavored electronic cigarettes. Menthol is the last allowable flavor for cigarettes. The proposed ban was prompted by a citizen petition that allows the public to...

The White House is waging war on menthol — the last allowable flavoring in cigarettes — and flavored cigars, announcing Thursday that the administration intends to ban the popular additives in tobacco products. It was the first shot in an uphill battle that advocates say would prevent the industry from marketing to children and minority communities with whom flavored tobacco has proven popular. "With these actions, the FDA will help significantly reduce youth initiation, increase the chances of smoking cessation among current smokers, and address health disparities experienced by communities of color, low-income populations, and LGBTQ+ individuals, all of whom...

The Food and Drug Administration appears likely to move to ban menthol in cigarettes this week — a step, experts say, that has been years in the making and that could have a significant positive impact on the health of Black Americans. The FDA's decision would not ban menthol immediately, but rather kick off the rule-making process to do so, which could take years. "The winds are definitely in our favor," said Delmonte Jefferson, executive director of the Center for Black Health & Equity, citing both the decades of data that show that the cooling flavor in cigarettes makes it...

With a rash of vaping-related lung illnesses across the nation, including one death in New York State, Governor Cuomo is looking to ban flavored nicotine products. "The priority, I believe, is vaping. That's young people. That's young people who are dying," Cuomo said. But smoking still kills and sickens far more people. There are roughly 28,000 deaths from smoking in New York State each year, and roughly 750,000 people are living with smoking-related illnesses. Lawmakers are looking to ban menthol cigarettes in New York State, which often are marketed to young people, and African-Americans. "Over 80% of African-Americans prefer to...

I had just walked through the front door when I heard those words that send chills up the spine of every man. "This is why we can't have anything nice!" It was my wife. I put the mail on the stairs while I tried to figure out if I could make it back out the front door without her hearing me. I knew I couldn't. The woman can hear what I think, for crying out loud. Now, I had to determine who did it while I was still unseen. There are always three likely culprits: 1. Me 2. The Boy...

Stop—a ban on menthol cigarettes—in the name of the law! A number of current and former top-ranking law enforcement officials from the tobacco-producing South have blasted a potential menthol cigarette ban as the Food and Drug Administration weighs restrictions on those products, contending that prohibition will spur smuggling, counterfeit cigs and other organized crime. Their comments to the FDA mirror arguments being made by Big Tobacco companies that have cited the specter of a menthol black market. But tobacco critics and a former top New York state tax official scoffed at those claims, and accused tobacco companies of scare tactics...

A number of current and former top-ranking law enforcement officials from the tobacco-producing South have blasted a potential menthol cigarette ban as the Food and Drug Administration weighs restrictions on those products, contending that prohibition will spur smuggling, counterfeit cigs and other organized crime.

With the increase in cigarette tax and the cost of cigarettes officially being much more expensive, it's the perfect time to focus on ways to stop smoking. For many, particularly African Americans who smoke menthol cigarettes, that may be a difficult task. According to researchers, menthol cigarettes are harder to quit, particularly among African American and Latino smokers. That is the finding of a study which examined the effects of menthol on quit rates among a diverse group of nearly 1,700 smokers attending a Tobacco Dependence Clinic at the UMDNJ-School of Public Health. “We previously found that menthol cigarette smokers...

Researchers say industry manipulates the ingredient to recruit new generation of users Tobacco companies are manipulating menthol levels in cigarettes to appeal to newer, younger smokers, part of a deliberate strategy to get younger people, particularly African-Americans, hooked, a new study contends. Menthol makes cigarettes more palatable to the novice smoker. "If anything, menthol is being used as a candy to help the toxin go down," said Dr. Gregory Connolly, senior author of a paper being published in the September issue of the American Journal of Public Health. "If we let the industry go ahead and willy-nilly design the product...

Cigarette Bill Treats Menthol With LeniencyBy STEPHANIE SAUL Published: May 13, 2008 Some public health experts are questioning why menthol, the most widely used cigarette flavoring and the most popular cigarette choice of African-American smokers, is receiving special protection as Congress tries to regulate tobacco for the first time. The legislation, which would give the Food and Drug Administration the power to oversee tobacco products, would try to reduce smoking’s allure to young people by banning most flavored cigarettes, including clove and cinnamon. But those new strictures would exempt menthol — even though menthol masks the harsh taste of cigarettes...