Press Releases
01/17/2024
Attorney General Tong Leads Multistate Coalition Urging Biden Administration to Implement Ban on Menthol Cigarettes and Flavored Cigars
(Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong this week led a coalition of 21 attorneys general in submitting a comment letter to the White House Office of Management and Budget, urging the Biden administration to complete its review and swiftly implement proposed FDA Rules, which would prohibit the sale of menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars. In the letter, the coalition specifically highlights calls for action by civil rights and public health groups to remove menthol tobacco products from the marketplace to protect public health and address the systemic and disproportionate impact of these products on minority communities and other vulnerable populations, including young people.“Menthol is added to make a deadly and distasteful product more palatable, with disproportionate health impacts in Black communities where tobacco companies have aggressively marketed menthol tobacco. I join civil rights leaders, public health experts, and attorneys general from across the country in urging the Biden Administration to prohibit menthol cigarette and flavored cigar sales,” said Attorney General Tong.
Overwhelming scientific evidence — including the FDA’s own findings and statements — leave no doubt that menthol cigarettes have far-reaching adverse impacts on public health, resulting in more smoking and more death and disease from tobacco use. Cigarette manufacturers add menthol to cigarettes and cigars to disguise the harsh taste of tobacco. As a result, this flavoring remains a primary reason why young people initiate and become addicted to smoking. Menthol cigarette use is also disproportionately high among LGBTQ+ smokers, women, racial and ethnic minorities, and socioeconomically disadvantaged populations.
For decades, the tobacco industry has aggressively marketed menthol cigarettes in Black communities through heavy advertising and promotional campaigns. As a result, in 2020, approximately 81 percent of non-Hispanic Black adults who smoked used menthol cigarettes, compared to 34 percent of non-Hispanic White adults.
In the letter, the multistate coalition urges the Biden Administration to finalize its review of the FDA’s proposed Rules without delay. As state and territorial chief legal officers, the attorneys general refute the tobacco industry’s unfounded claims that the proposed menthol ban will likely increase illicit trade or abusive policing in Black communities. The coalition argues that the FDA’s proposed rules are critical for advancing health equity and protecting the public health of all Americans.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that, in Connecticut alone, an estimated 8,200 additional adults who smoke would quit smoking if menthol cigarettes were no longer available. Banning menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars would bring the country closer to achieving the Cancer Moonshot, President Biden’s historic push “to end cancer as we know it.”
Attorney General Tong led the coalition, along with the attorneys general of California, Illinois and New York. Attorneys general from Arizona, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Northern Mariana Islands, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and District of Columbia also signed the letter.
A copy of the letter can be found here.
Heather Wilson, Deputy Section Chief for Tobacco Enforcement, Assistant Attorney General Amor Rosario and Deputy Associate Attorney General Philip Miller, Chief of the Financial and Revenue Services Section, assisted Attorney General Tong in this matter.
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