Tomorrow, the Biden Administration may announce a ban on all menthol products, in line with an April 29th deadline imposed by a lawsuit brought by the African American Tobacco Leadership Council and Action on Smoking and Health. In coming weeks, the Administration may also announce a cap on nicotine quantity in tobacco products.
Michél Legendre, Tobacco Campaign Director, assessed the situation:
“It’s past time to ban the sale of menthol products, which Big Tobacco has long aggressively marketed to Black Americans. Big Tobacco peddles addiction as much as it does death, and lowering nicotine quantities in tobacco products could also save countless lives.
These two changes would be a much needed and welcome move to protect public health—yet the tobacco industry is already positioning itself to keep profiting with the roll-out of its new, addictive products like IQOS.
Protecting public health and preventing this industry’s continued exploitation must be two sides of the same regulatory coin. Now is the time for the U.S. to ratify and implement the global tobacco treaty, which has life-saving policies that would further protect people and hold the industry accountable. The tobacco epidemic continues to be the leading cause of preventable deaths in the United States—let’s use the tools we have to end it.”
