Biden delaying plan to ban menthol cigarettes

President Joe Biden is delaying an FDA plan to ban menthol cigarettes, a move that could effectively kill any chance the rule will be released before the election in November.

“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,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement Friday. “It’s clear that there are still more conversations to have, and that will take significantly more time.”

Becerra’s statement came shortly after the Wall Street Journal published a story that the Biden administration had decided to “reverse course” and not issue the rule, which has been in final review at the White House for six months.

The decision to delay the ban rather than abandon it means the White House could revive the rule if Biden wins reelection in November, said three people familiar with the matter, who were granted anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

But there's little expectation that it will be released during Biden's first term, as health officials inside the administration, including FDA Commissioner Robert Califf, had originally planned.

The delay comes after the proposed ban drew fire from tobacco companies and other groups that argued an end to menthol cigarette sales could create an illicit market that would impact minorities the hardest. Some civil rights leaders also warned that a prohibition would encourage further over-policing of Black communities.

But anti-smoking advocates, including the American Cancer Society, Cancer Action Network and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, have continued to push the Biden administration, saying the ban would save hundreds of thousands of lives. Several prominent civil rights groups, including the NAACP, also favored prohibiting menthol cigarettes.

Public health groups have spent more than a decade advocating for a ban on menthol, which remains the only flavored cigarette allowed on the market. This White House represented their best shot, they believed, given Biden's decision to make fighting cancer a central plank of his presidency.

Biden relaunched the Cancer Moonshot initiative, with officials at one point including a prospective menthol ban as evidence of the progress the administration would make in combating the disease.

"The FDA's experts have been clear that menthol cigarettes are harmful to public health," said Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Ill.), chair of the Congressional Black Caucus' Health Braintrust, adding that she was "deeply disappointed" by the decision. "This is a commonsense plan which could have saved hundreds of thousands of lives."

Califf has pursued a ban on menthol since taking over the agency in early 2022, viewing it as a critical public health priority. But after finishing a rule last year, the plan stalled amid pushback from a handful of Black community organizations — including the National Action Network run by close Biden ally Rev. Al Sharpton — that fueled White House concerns the ban would damage Biden's eroding standing with minority voters. The tobacco industry also enlisted former Black Democratic lawmakers to argue against the ban.

The White House opted to delay the ban's release late last year, with senior aides contending they needed more time to reassess the ramifications of the rule. That sparked another round of lobbying inside and outside the administration, with Califf privately encouraging outside anti-smoking groups to step up pressure on the White House.

The administration nevertheless missed a self-imposed March deadline to make a decision on the ban, heightening worries the White House was preparing to table the rule until after the election to avoid the potential for political blowback.

"Two full years after releasing proposed rules backed by extensive scientific evidence — and more than a decade since the FDA began examining menthol cigarettes — the administration has failed to take decisive action," American Heart Association CEO Nancy Brown said. "The administration's inaction is enabling the tobacco industry to continue aggressively marketing these products and attracting and addicting new users."