Organizations Urge Biden to Ban Menthols

A total of 123 civil rights, public health, medical, faith, youth-serving and other organizations placed a full-page ad in The Washington Post and issued a joint statement urging the Biden administration to issue final rules this month to prohibit cigarettes and flavored cigars to meet a deadline the administration set in December, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

The ad and joint statement underscore the support across the nation for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s proposed rules to eliminate menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars, including from organizations representing populations that have been targeted by the tobacco industry and disproportionately harmed by these products.

“President Biden, we stand united,” the ad reads. “Act now to eliminate menthol cigarettes.”

“These rules are supported by overwhelming scientific evidence, they will have enormous benefits for our nation’s health and they are critical to achieving top priorities of the Biden administration, especially the president’s Cancer Moonshot and the administration’s commitment to promoting health equity,” the joint statement reads.

“We were deeply disappointed in December when the administration delayed issuing these long-overdue rules. As tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, killing nearly half a million Americans every year, any further delay in issuing the final rules will result in needless disease, suffering and deaths. The administration must stand up to the tobacco industry and act now to save lives.”