Lawsuit Urges US Government to Implement Ban on Menthol Cigarettes

Anti-smoking groups sued the US government, demanding a ban on menthol cigarettes. They accuse the Biden administration of postponing the ban. Menthol, found in peppermint and related plants, is popular among Black smokers, largely due to tobacco companies’ marketing strategies. It also attracts younger smokers.

In April 2022, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) suggested prohibiting menthol. Officials initially aimed to finalize the rule by August of the same year. However, after missing this deadline, they postponed it to the previous month.

This delay led to a lawsuit against the FDA and its overseeing body, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), urging them to enforce the ban.

The lawsuit, lodged in a federal court in Oakland, California, criticizes the defendants for allowing tobacco firms to target minors, women, and the Black community with menthol cigarettes, harming public health.

Menthol remains the sole cigarette flavour permitted by a 2009 law that granted the FDA the power to oversee tobacco.

The African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council, Action on Smoking and Health, and the National Medical Association filed the lawsuit. HHS and the FDA have not yet commented.

The FDA estimates that removing menthol could save 324,000 to 654,000 lives in the United States over 40 years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notes that menthol cigarettes have led to 10.1 million Americans starting to smoke from 1980 to 2018, resulting in 378,000 premature deaths.

In 2021, menthol cigarette sales constituted 37% of all US cigarette sales, the highest since records began in 1963. According to the CDC, 81% of Black adult smokers prefer menthol cigarettes versus 34% of white adult smokers.

Altria and British American Tobacco, as Morningstar analyst Philip Gorham estimated, earn over 20% of their revenue from menthol.

The lawsuit’s plaintiffs argue that banning menthol would aid the Black community. They criticize the Biden administration for yielding to the tobacco industry’s “disinformation and fear-mongering.”

The lawsuit aims to influence the Biden administration’s actions as it seeks significant Black voter turnout for Joe Biden’s reelection campaign against Donald Trump.

Previously, in June 2020, the plaintiffs sued the FDA for a menthol ban but dropped the case in June 2022, following the FDA’s proposal to ban menthol.

The case is titled African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council et al. v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services et al., in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 24-01992.