White House Misses Another Deadline to Finalize Rule Prohibiting Menthol Cigarettes - Delays Cost Lives, Especially Black Lives
WASHINGTON, April 1, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- It is profoundly disappointing and harmful to public health that the Biden Administration has missed yet another deadline to issue a final FDA rule eliminating menthol cigarettes. The Administration delayed issuing the final rule in December and now has missed the new deadline it set to issue the rule by March 2024.
- Make no mistake: Delays cost lives, especially Black lives.
- Delays allow the tobacco industry to continue its predatory targeting of Black and other communities with menthol cigarettes, resulting in 45,000 Black lives lost to smoking-related diseases every year.
- If Black lives truly matter, it's time to get rid of menthol cigarettes, the only flavored cigarettes still on the market.
- Research shows that eliminating menthol cigarettes will save up to 654,000 lives within 40 years, including 255,000 Black lives.