Citing the Food and Drug Administration’s “historic attention” and “immense amount of feedback” on the contentious proposal, the Biden administration announced on Friday that it would once again postpone a decision on a regulation aimed at prohibiting menthol-flavored cigarettes.
“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 movements,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement.
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The White House had already missed its prior self-imposed deadline to deliberate on the regulation by March. The rule was blocked in an interagency review process.
A senior administration source said it was difficult to set a timetable for the postponement, citing ongoing differences following “months of hard conversations.”
The official stated that they are requesting more time to hear from outside parties, particularly on the civil rights front.
They noted the high rate of black Americans dying from menthol cigarettes, which prompted the FDA’s first push for a ban, but expressed civil rights concerns about how such a restriction would be implemented.
The American Civil Liberties Union, among other groups, has pushed for months against a menthol cigarette ban, claiming that it will “disproportionately impact people of color” and “prioritize criminalization over republican health and harm reduction.”
“It’s clear that there are still more conversations to have, and that will take significantly more time,” Becerra said in his statement.
The White House has held over 100 talks with dozens of outside groups supporting and opposing the policy, ranging from convenience shop associations to the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives.
For months, public health organizations have expressed displeasure over repeated delays in the FDA’s proposal, which agency officials had anticipated would be a key component of a federal drive to drastically reduce smoking rates in the United States.
Advocates are concerned that delays will allow opponents to reverse the rule using the Congressional Review Act during the next presidential term.
“The administration’s inaction is enabling the tobacco industry to continue aggressively marketing these products and attracting and addicting new users,” said Nancy Brown, CEO of the American Heart Association, in a statement.
In a statement, FDA spokesperson James McKinney stated that the agency “remains committed to issuing the tobacco product standards for menthol in cigarettes and characterizing flavors in cigars” as its top priority.
At a House Appropriations Committee hearing this month, FDA Administrator Robert Califf stated that he believed the prohibition may be lifted by the end of the year.
“I’m a cardiologist who practiced in North Carolina for 35 years. Because I was an intensivist dealing with the disease’s final stage, I probably saw more individuals die from tobacco-related illnesses than virtually any other clinician. “This is our top priority,” he stated.
