Jan 18, 2024

Activists and health advocates are pressing the Biden administration to ban menthol cigarettes ahead of an FDA deadline. Black community leaders and public health advocates marched toward the White House and staged a mock funeral for the 45,000 Black lives lost from tobacco-related illnesses each year. But there's a battle over whether the administration should enact a ban. Stephanie Sy reports.

Geoff Bennett:

Activists and health advocates are ramping up efforts to get the Biden administration to ban menthol cigarettes ahead of an FDA deadline this weekend.

This afternoon, community leaders and public health advocates marched toward the White House and staged a homegoing mock funeral for the 45,000 Black lives lost to tobacco-related illnesses every year. But there's been a battle over whether the administration should finally enact a ban.

Stephanie Sy has the latest.

Stephanie Sy:

The decision on the ban has already been delayed after it was expected to go through last summer.

White House officials are reportedly at odds over the political implications. But public health officials and the FDA say a ban would save hundreds of thousands of lives. Menthol cigarettes are a leading cause of death among Black Americans; 81 percent of Black smokers use menthols, compared to 34 percent of white smokers.

And there's a reason for that, says Keith Wailoo, author of the book "Pushing Cool: Big Tobacco, Racial Marketing, and the Untold Story of the Menthol Cigarette."

Professor Wailoo, thank you for joining the "NewsHour."

Start by giving us a sense of how great a toll menthol cigarettes have had on Black communities.

Keith Wailoo:

Well, the toll is incalculable.

That is to say, smoking itself has exacted an enormous toll in terms of lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, and a wide range of other ailments across America. The menthol cigarette and the way in which the industry has pitched the menthol cigarette over the course of decades to the Black community has also resulted in generations of smokers initiated into smoking who otherwise would not have been.

So, the menthol cigarette is a key tool in the recruitment of smokers over the course of generations. This is really a moment that has been long in the making.

Stephanie Sy:

The idea of a ban, though, Professor, has come up for years. Why does it keep getting delayed?

Keith Wailoo:

Well, this moment has been a long time in the making. And the story really starts in 2009, when the Food and Drug Administration was given authority for the first time in the nation's history for regulating tobacco products.

Imagine that. Only 15 years ago, the FDA was granted jurisdiction over these kinds of products. In that legislation signed by President Obama, flavored cigarettes were banned as illegitimate enticements, particularly because they were seen as important to youth initiation.

But menthols were exempted. And the question was kicked over to the Food and Drug Administration. And, in some ways, what we're dealing with is the aftermath of that decision. The FDA has tried twice before to move. So, in some ways, we're really at the cusp of a story that has been playing out very, very slowly.

Stephanie Sy:

And, in the background, isn't there a lot of lobbying going on as well that may be cause for delay?

Keith Wailoo:

Well, that's true.

I think part of the tobacco industry's playbook has always been to, in some ways, latch on to a contemporary hot-button political issue in order to rally the public against what most public health advocates and most citizens, frankly, see as commonsense tobacco regulation.

Stephanie Sy:

There is an argument on the other side of the ban, including from prominent Black leaders, who say that a menthol cigarette ban could lead to more criminalization of Black people.

How do you respond to that?

Keith Wailoo:

Well, I think the argument finds a legitimate concern, right, police targeting of Black people, and they try to wrap menthol cigarettes around it.

I really regard this argument as insincere, right, and deceitful for a couple of reasons. One, we have examples of entire states like California and Massachusetts that have banned menthol cigarettes, have banned flavored cigarettes, and nothing like this has resulted. So this is part of the big tobacco playbook to take a legitimate issue around which there is fear, mistrust and concern and try to connect it somehow to what the industry sees as a lucrative, but deadly product.

Stephanie Sy:

There's also, though, a poll making the rounds that suggest that banning menthols could hurt President Biden's reelection campaign during a contentious election year. And, ultimately, the decision will be up to Biden, the ban.

Cornell Belcher is a Democratic pollster who worked for President Obama.

Cornell Belcher, Former Obama Campaign Pollster:

There is some issue where African American voters, particularly African American voters in that space, look at a ban and not on the broader tobacco products, but particularly on menthols, which they use disproportionately, and go, why are we being singled out and targeted in this way?

There's a segment of the African American community who thinks this could cause more harm, prohibition could cause more harm than benefit.

Stephanie Sy:

Professor, we should note that the poll was reportedly commissioned by Altria, which is a world tobacco giant, as you know.

But can you see political considerations influencing President Biden's decision on this ban?

Keith Wailoo:

One would hope that, ultimately, science and public health considerations will play a — the majority of a role in the administration's decision.

That said, I'm skeptical about whether the political considerations that come by way of a Altria-funded poll that suggests that there may be a split in the Black community and there may be political consequences, I'm skeptical of those findings, partly because this is how the industry has worked historically with regard specifically to social science experts, psychologists, pollsters, who helped the industry figure out the best way to pitch an issue, to politicize it in order to protect a threatened and lucrative market.

Stephanie Sy:

Do you have a prediction, Professor, for how you see things going from here? Do you think a ban will be enacted under the Biden administration?

Keith Wailoo:

Well, I think that all of the scientific and public health and indeed the political argument is in favor of the Biden administration following through.

I think the focus on how smokers will respond is only one part of the story. It's really about moves that you make, like banning television ads or banning billboards or banning Joe Camel cartoon ads. This is another chapter in a longstanding story to try to safeguard the health and well-being of the American public.

Stephanie Sy:

Keith Wailoo, author of "Pushing Cool."

Thank you so much for joining the "NewsHour" with your insights, Professor.

Keith Wailoo:

Thank you.