June 24, 2024 by Chuck Quirmbach

WUWM 89.7 FM

A casket holds anti-smoking material at a mock funeral for "Nasty Newports" Sunday at Mason Temple Church of God in Christ in Milwaukee.

Anti-tobacco groups are criticizing a federal decision last week to authorize four menthol vaping products.

Local criticism came Sunday at a Black church during a mock funeral for Newport Menthol cigarettes. The event pushed for halting the use of the minty-flavored additive in smoking materials.

A hearse from Reid Funeral Home in Milwaukee prepared to take the casket away after Sunday's event.

Like many people, Milwaukee’s Patricia Wilson can point to relatives who smoked cigarettes and died. Here’s what she said at Mason Temple Church of God in Christ on Milwaukee’s north side.

“In 2017, I lost my husband to a tobacco-related death at 49 years old. When I was 32, my brother had his vocal box removed because he smoked," Wilson said, adding that six months later, her brother died. And she said her mother-in-law developed a fatal case of lung cancer due to second-hand smoke.

Milwaukee anti-smoking activist Patricia Wilson speaks during Sunday's ceremony.

The Centers for Disease Control says smoking rates in the U.S. have declined from 1 in every five adults 20 years ago to about one in every ten now.

But health advocates say makers of tobacco products continue to excessively market to Black and Latino communities, leading to disproportionate health problems. The advocates say menthol cigarettes —designed to reduce the harshness of the flavor— are especially pushed.

Other studies show most kids who smoke use a flavored product.

A national group, the African-American Tobacco Leadership Council, is part of a coalition that sued the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) four years ago to halt the use of menthol-flavored tobacco products. The agency was supposedly going to announce a ban a couple of months ago, but that’s been delayed.

Carol McGruder, founder and co-chair of the African-American Tobacco Leadership Council, speaks to a local television reporter prior to the mock funeral.

The Council’s founder, Carol McGruder, who was at the Milwaukee church Sunday, said she’s disappointed “because each delay, each year there’s more people dying. There’s less support and resources that are allocated for this very pressing issue."

Last Friday, the FDA authorized the use of four menthol vaping products made by a private company—stating the vaping items may help adults transition from traditional cigarettes to less harmful e-cigarettes.

McGruder disagrees with the move: “If our government is saying this is truly a cessation aid, and that’s the research, let the government take it over. Let Walgreens dispense them for free!" she said.

Milwaukee pastor Theresa Thomas Boyd makes remarks during Sunday's mock funeral.

For now, anti-tobacco advocates like Milwaukee pastor Theresa Thomas Boyd may have to settle for symbolic funerals of menthol tobacco products, like the one held Sunday for what were called "Nasty Newports."

“This is one we put to death today. To God be the glory!” Boyd said during her remarks.