The Biden administration said Monday it will target menthol cigarettes in this year’s anti-smoking awareness campaign, hoping to fix racial health disparities around tobacco use while regulators devise a politically perilous ban on the minty product.
The “Tips From Former Smokers” campaign features seven new people in ads that will run on broadcast and cable television, and on digital and social media channels. Most of the featured ex-smokers used cigarettes with menthol, a flavor that can make cigarettes more appealing to some users and for years was marketed to Blacks and other minorities.
Tammy W., a 50-year-old member of the Odawa Indians tribe in Michigan, says in one new ad that menthol cigarettes seemed less dangerous than regular cigarettes. She needed open-heart surgery at age 44 to stay alive.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said while smoking rates have generally decreased, the use of menthol cigarettes among those who smoke has increased.
The Food and Drug Administration says among Black smokers, nearly 85% smoke menthol cigarettes, compared to 30% of White smokers who use menthols.
All told, roughly 28 million adults in the U.S. smoke cigarettes and more than 480,000 die each year from illnesses tied to smoking, according to the agency.
The FDA issued a rule to ban menthol cigarettes in 2022. Yet the agency hasn’t promulgated the ban as it receives input from both sides of the issue, meaning it could be delayed until the election.
Mr. Biden’s ban risks upsetting Black voters, who are crucial to the Democratic base and have the highest percentage of menthol cigarette use among all racial and ethnic groups.
Polling on the issue is mixed.
A survey commissioned by Altria, a major tobacco company, found the majority (54%) of “core” Biden voters — defined as minority voters and non-conservative White voters under age 45 — opposed a ban on menthol cigarettes, including the majority of core Biden voters in swing states like Arizona, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia and Michigan.
But a CDC-sponsored survey of more than 6,000 people last year found that 62% of people would support banning menthol cigarettes, including 61.5% of Black respondents.