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Jose Garcia

(2,607 posts) Fri Apr 26, 2024, 03:21 PM Apr 26

Biden Delays Ban on Menthol Cigarettes

Source: New York Times

The Biden administration said on Friday that it was delaying a decision on whether to ban menthol cigarettes as federal officials take more time to consider the move.

The White House has faced considerable opposition from the big tobacco companies that could lose billions of dollars from the move. But the proposal has also posed risks for President Biden in an election year because of his weakening support among Black voters, some of whom view it as heavy-handed.

“This rule has garnered historic attention, and the public comment period has yielded an immense amount of feedback, including from various elements of the civil rights and criminal justice movement,” Xavier Becerra, the health and human services secretary, said in a statement.

“It’s clear that there are still more conversations to have, and that will take significantly more time.”

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/26/health/menthol-cigarettes-ban-biden-fda.html

33 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

Biden Delays Ban on Menthol Cigarettes (Original Post) Jose Garcia Apr 26 OP

When I smoked, it was always menthol... and I'm white as the driven snow. Talitha Apr 26 #1

MD Anderson Cancer Center thinks it's a good idea, and they explain why... kysrsoze Apr 26 #3

Thanks for the link, it was very informative. Talitha Apr 26 #15

The government banned all other flavors a few years ago, but Jose Garcia Apr 26 #4

Agreed Ojerly Apr 26 #7

And marijuana remains on the Schedule 1 list. Why does tobacco companies' profits outweigh public safety? kysrsoze Apr 26 #2

Tobacco companies are not reason Jose Garcia Apr 26 #8

BS speak easy Apr 27 #27

Are you saying that President Biden is a racist? Jose Garcia Wednesday #31

No one said that. Bucky Wednesday #32

CDC research on African Americans and cig menthol usage Bucky Wednesday #33

My own explanation for that has always been (and this is anecdotal, not based on any data or polling, etc.) Aristus Apr 26 #9

How many more deaths will occur before Menthol gets banned like every other flavor was 15 years ago ? MichMan Apr 26 #5

Good idea. Turbineguy Apr 26 #6

Good idea to not give the repukes and their orange maga leaders ammunition to attack the administration and use it to kimbutgar Apr 26 #10

+1. A smart move dalton99a Apr 27 #26

Sorry all, but this is a political move. hedda_foil Apr 26 #11

I'm trying very hard not to interject my opinion here. I've typed 5 posts and deleted them. But, I'll stay mum. keopeli Apr 26 #12

Menthol is more than a flavoring for cigarettes. Menthol (aka. mint) opens the breathing channels. Earth-shine Apr 26 #13

Big Tobacco approves MichMan Apr 26 #14

Big Tobacco is lying that African-Americans In NY will be policed for menthol cigarettes. Marcuse Apr 26 #16

If the majority of people except Big Tobacco is in favor of a ban, why delay it ? MichMan Apr 27 #17

It's more nuanced. Marcuse Apr 27 #25

A national ban per the OP would adress those concerns MichMan Apr 27 #29

A majority of the Congressional Black Caucus supported the ban. Celerity Apr 27 #18

That's a shame. I'm very disappointed to hear this. Oopsie Daisy Apr 27 #19

I never saw the point in this. All cigarettes are bad. Ban them all or don't ban them. Vinca Apr 27 #20

bingo its like banning red wine but not white dembotoz Apr 27 #21

From the link in post #3 MichMan Apr 27 #22

Embracing an "all or nothing" philosophy generally results in accomplishing nothing * Oopsie Daisy Apr 27 #23

There are always flavor injectors. The Grand Illuminist Apr 27 #24

I worked at a gas station. GreenWave Apr 27 #28

I did too. I could spot the Marlboro smokers when they entered the door. It was so rube red, we sold lots of snuff and Silent Type Apr 27 #30

Talitha

(6,622 posts)

1. When I smoked, it was always menthol... and I'm white as the driven snow.

Reply to Jose Garcia (Original post)

Fri Apr 26, 2024, 03:35 PM

Apr 26

Whose brain-fart came up with the idea to ban menthol cigarettes, anyway?

BTW - if I still smoked, I'd be using menthol - to me, the plain stuff always tasted like dirt.

kysrsoze

(6,023 posts)

3. MD Anderson Cancer Center thinks it's a good idea, and they explain why...

Reply to Talitha (Reply #1)

Fri Apr 26, 2024, 03:38 PM

Apr 26

https://www.mdanderson.org/cancerwise/menthol-cigarettes--the-food-and-drug-administration-fda-ban-and-why-they-are-more-harmful.h00-159460056.html

Talitha

(6,622 posts)

15. Thanks for the link, it was very informative.

Reply to kysrsoze (Reply #3)

Fri Apr 26, 2024, 08:16 PM

Apr 26

One thing for sure, the menthol sure does make cigarettes more tolerable.

I once lifted a pack of my brother's Camels (no filter) to share with fellow-Freshmen in the Girls' room at a high school dance. We wanted to see what smoking was all about, and boy-howdy did we find out!

Later, a Senior (who'd seen us hacking) gave us a Salem to pass around. We still choked but it was agreed all around that it was much more agreeable. I gave her the pack of Camels for her boyfriend.

Jose Garcia

(2,607 posts)

4. The government banned all other flavors a few years ago, but

Reply to Talitha (Reply #1)

Fri Apr 26, 2024, 03:40 PM

Apr 26

for some unkonwn reason they did not ban menthol.

Ojerly

(16 posts)

7. Agreed

Reply to Talitha (Reply #1)

Fri Apr 26, 2024, 04:15 PM

Apr 26

I have smoked both, but when I quit in 2004 I was a lilly white menthol smoker for 10 years.

kysrsoze

(6,023 posts)

2. And marijuana remains on the Schedule 1 list. Why does tobacco companies' profits outweigh public safety?

Reply to Jose Garcia (Original post)

Fri Apr 26, 2024, 03:36 PM

Apr 26

Jose Garcia

(2,607 posts)

8. Tobacco companies are not reason

Reply to kysrsoze (Reply #2)

Fri Apr 26, 2024, 04:21 PM

Apr 26

The Biden Administration is afraid of angering African American voters.

speak easy

(9,328 posts)

27. BS

Reply to Jose Garcia (Reply #8)

Sat Apr 27, 2024, 01:17 PM

Apr 27

Not true. Racist.

Jose Garcia

(2,607 posts)

31. Are you saying that President Biden is a racist?

Reply to speak easy (Reply #27)

Wed May 1, 2024, 01:17 PM

Wednesday

Bucky

(54,087 posts)

32. No one said that.

Reply to Jose Garcia (Reply #31)

Wed May 1, 2024, 05:20 PM

Wednesday

Please don't lower the quality of discussion or ask demeaning or trollish questions. Let's have a mature discussion without the hysterics.

Bucky

(54,087 posts)

33. CDC research on African Americans and cig menthol usage

Reply to speak easy (Reply #27)

Wed May 1, 2024, 05:27 PM

Wednesday

It is not racist to English well researched well documented facts about consumer market usage

CDC findings on mental cigarette usage

The tobacco industry aggressively targets its marketing to certain populations, including young people, women, and racial and ethnic minority groups, particularly Black people.

---------------

It is estimated that between 1980 – 2018, 1.5 million African Americans began smoking menthol cigarettes and 157,000 African Americans died prematurely because of menthol cigarettes.

In 2018, 51.4% of non-Hispanic Black and 50.6% of Hispanic high school and middle school students who smoked used menthol cigarettes, compared to 42.8% of non-Hispanic White youth.
In 2018-2019, approximately 70% of Black or African American adults 18-34 years old who currently smoked cigarettes used menthol cigarettes, compared to 39% of White adults in that same age group.

Aristus

(66,468 posts)

9. My own explanation for that has always been (and this is anecdotal, not based on any data or polling, etc.)

Reply to kysrsoze (Reply #2)

Fri Apr 26, 2024, 04:25 PM

Apr 26

that tobacco requires an entire industry in order to be profitable. Cultivating tobacco is immensely labor intensive. Then there's the processing, the adding of thousands of chemicals to increase its addictiveness, manufacturing, packaging, and shipping. Not to mention advertising. It needs an industrial infrastructure to flourish.

Meanwhile, marijuana can pretty much be grown anywhere by anyone, inexpensively, under a number of different climate conditions and soil properties. It is, after all, a weed in the most literal sense. Cannabis growers don't have the financial clout to lobby Congress for a re-scheduling.

MichMan

(11,989 posts)

5. How many more deaths will occur before Menthol gets banned like every other flavor was 15 years ago ?

Reply to Jose Garcia (Original post)

Fri Apr 26, 2024, 04:07 PM

Apr 26

How many more years does it need to be studied ?

Turbineguy

(37,372 posts)

6. Good idea.

Reply to Jose Garcia (Original post)

Fri Apr 26, 2024, 04:10 PM

Apr 26

Get trump supporters to smoke more.

kimbutgar

(21,215 posts)

10. Good idea to not give the repukes and their orange maga leaders ammunition to attack the administration and use it to

Reply to Jose Garcia (Original post)

Fri Apr 26, 2024, 04:41 PM

Apr 26

Tear away the black vote. Wait until after the election.

dalton99a

(81,635 posts)

26. +1. A smart move

Reply to kimbutgar (Reply #10)

Sat Apr 27, 2024, 12:29 PM

Apr 27

hedda_foil

(16,375 posts)

11. Sorry all, but this is a political move.

Reply to Jose Garcia (Original post)

Fri Apr 26, 2024, 05:24 PM

Apr 26

Read careful and note the subtext. It's about not unnecessarily alienating potential base voters.

keopeli

(3,526 posts)

12. I'm trying very hard not to interject my opinion here. I've typed 5 posts and deleted them. But, I'll stay mum.

Reply to Jose Garcia (Original post)

Fri Apr 26, 2024, 05:42 PM

Apr 26

Earth-shine

(4,044 posts)

13. Menthol is more than a flavoring for cigarettes. Menthol (aka. mint) opens the breathing channels.

Reply to Jose Garcia (Original post)

Fri Apr 26, 2024, 06:09 PM

Apr 26

It makes the "hit" from the cig stronger than it would be otherwise.

I quit smoking 12 years ago. I used nicotine-free e-cigs as the "crutch." It worked!

I suppose I am neutral on whether tobacco in any form should be banned.

I'd rather Biden work on world peace. It seems that Netanyahu, Hamas, and Putin want to drive us to WWIII.

MichMan

(11,989 posts)

14. Big Tobacco approves

Reply to Jose Garcia (Original post)

Fri Apr 26, 2024, 07:03 PM

Apr 26

Marcuse

(7,522 posts)

16. Big Tobacco is lying that African-Americans In NY will be policed for menthol cigarettes.

Reply to Jose Garcia (Original post)

Fri Apr 26, 2024, 10:29 PM

Apr 26

According to the Department's 2022 Chronic Disease Public Opinion Poll, the majority of respondents were in favor of such a bill, and only 28% of respondents were opposed. A 2018 Truth Initiative survey showed that support for a menthol ban is especially strong among African-Americans (60.5%) and other groups who have been targeted by the tobacco industry, including Hispanic/Latinos (69.3%). The Truth Initiative survey also found more than 1 in 4 current menthol smokers (28.5%) favored a ban.

The tobacco industry's influence in New York State continues to drive commercial tobacco-related disparities and inequities; annually, the tobacco industry spends $9.1 billion (almost $1 million every hour) to market and promote their deadly and addictive products nationally and of that total, an estimated $177.3 million is spent in the Empire State each year. For more than 60 years, the tobacco industry has specifically targeted Black communities with menthol tobacco product marketing and promotions. In New York State, menthol cigarettes are used by over half of all adult smokers (52%), while 86% of Black and 72% of Hispanic smokers exclusively smoke menthol cigarettes.[link:https://www.health.ny.gov/press/releases/2023/2023-02-09_flavored_tobacco_products.htm|

MichMan

(11,989 posts)

17. If the majority of people except Big Tobacco is in favor of a ban, why delay it ?

Reply to Marcuse (Reply #16)

Sat Apr 27, 2024, 01:33 AM

Apr 27

Marcuse

(7,522 posts)

25. It's more nuanced.

Reply to MichMan (Reply #17)

Sat Apr 27, 2024, 12:26 PM

Apr 27

It's not that they want to encourage smoking, but Black faith leaders are asking Gov. Kathy Hochul to drop her state budget proposal to ban menthol cigarettes and create a commission on the issue instead.

That's because 85% of Black people who smoke smoke menthol cigarettes, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. And if menthol cigarettes are prohibited in New York State, there are two fears: that it will open up an illegal black market for cigarettes from other states, and it will make Black people a target for police enforcement.

"Our concerns lie in our foresight, and the past and recent killings of unarmed Black men and women at the hands of police," said the Rev. Frank Bostic, pastor of Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church. "A prohibition will incite crime. A prohibition will drive people just a few miles down the road to reservations to purchase legal, menthol and flavored tobacco while police stop Buffalo's residents and ask where they purchased the menthol cigarettes."
[link:https://buffalonews.com/news/local/state-and-regional/black-ministers-would-like-to-see-menthol-cigarette-ban-go-up-in-smoke/article_785e9b98-ae20-11ed-a927-2bacc7e7fdeb.html|

MichMan

(11,989 posts)

29. A national ban per the OP would adress those concerns

Reply to Marcuse (Reply #25)

Sat Apr 27, 2024, 02:17 PM

Apr 27

People wouldn't be able to go to another state and I dont see how the Tribal reservations would obtain them either.

Celerity

(43,581 posts)

18. A majority of the Congressional Black Caucus supported the ban.

Reply to Jose Garcia (Original post)

Sat Apr 27, 2024, 05:47 AM

Apr 27

Oopsie Daisy

(2,691 posts)

19. That's a shame. I'm very disappointed to hear this.

Reply to Jose Garcia (Original post)

Sat Apr 27, 2024, 06:21 AM

Apr 27

Vinca

(50,314 posts)

20. I never saw the point in this. All cigarettes are bad. Ban them all or don't ban them.

Reply to Jose Garcia (Original post)

Sat Apr 27, 2024, 07:19 AM

Apr 27

dembotoz

(16,856 posts)

21. bingo its like banning red wine but not white

Reply to Vinca (Reply #20)

Sat Apr 27, 2024, 08:31 AM

Apr 27

MichMan

(11,989 posts)

22. From the link in post #3

Reply to Vinca (Reply #20)

Sat Apr 27, 2024, 08:44 AM

Apr 27

What does the research say about the dangers of menthol cigarettes?

Because menthol flavoring masks the harsh taste of cigarette smoke, menthol smokers engage in more intense smoking behaviors than smokers of regular cigarettes. As a result, they suffer greater damage to their health. Here are three reasons menthols are so dangerous:

People who smoke menthols smoke more. The minty coolness of the menthol covers up the harshness of the cigarette, so smoking is easier to tolerate. As a result, menthol smokers inhale more deeply and they smoke more cigarettes. That means over their smoking lifetime, they take in more of toxic chemicals and tar from cigarettes.

Menthols are harder to quit. Research by both the FDA and the Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee shows that those who smoke menthol cigarettes are more likely to be dependent and have more trouble quitting. So, while Black smokers are more likely to try to quit smoking than white smokers, they’re less likely to be successful. That’s because of a higher nicotine dependence related to smoking menthol cigarettes. One result: Black men and women have a higher rate of lung cancer than any other race.

Menthols appeal to young smokers. Studies show that young people who start smoking menthol cigarettes are more likely to become addicted and become long-term daily smokers.

Oopsie Daisy

(2,691 posts)

23. Embracing an "all or nothing" philosophy generally results in accomplishing nothing *

Reply to Vinca (Reply #20)

Sat Apr 27, 2024, 09:45 AM

Apr 27

* so this is a good first step that will save lives. It will make it easier for current menthol cigarette smokers to be motivated to quit. And, it will reduce the chances of new smokers becoming addicted thanks to the smooth-cooling sensation of the menthol.

When I was a menthol smoker in my youth, I'd occasionally bum-a-smoke from a non-menthol friend, and they were horrible. I'd have been horrified if my menthol cigarettes suddenly disappeared, but it would have been quite a strong push for me to give them up sooner. I never understood how my Marlboro and Winston friends could stand it. But, they did smoke much less than I did, too. I was a Salem and B&H and Va-Slims smoker. The Kools and Newports had TOO MUCH menthol for me.