Delaying the menthol ban is another blow to racial health equity

Our nation’s health regulators were ready to take the important step of banning menthol, the only tobacco flavor that is still allowed on the market — that is until the Biden administration stepped in to delay the ban.

This delay is not without consequence, as I told the White House in a recent meeting. A delay means more deaths — more deaths of Black people and especially Black children. We have seen a delay on voting rights, a delay on living wages and now a delay of a moral rule to regulate menthol. 

I grew up in eastern North Carolina in Tobacco Country. I was a part of the group of poor, rural boys and girls that tobacco growers use, paying the lowest wage possible to crop and prime tobacco. 

I watched friend after friend become addicted to cigarettes and die from cancer only as Big Tobacco worked harder to get more and more addicted for profit.

Menthol is a health equity issue in the United States. Our analysis of public data shows that 60 percent (24 million) of African Americans are poor or low-wage. Thirty percent (66 million) of whites are poor or low-wage. Poverty is the fourth leading cause of death. 

Menthol is targeted and marketed specifically towards poor Black and brown people. The tobacco industry’s predatory marketing has had a devastating impact on the health of Black Americans. 

Tobacco use is the number one cause of preventable death among Black Americans, claiming 45,000 Black lives every year. Tobacco use is a major contributor to three of the leading causes of death among Black Americans — heart disease, cancer and stroke — and Black Americans die from these conditions at far higher rates than other Americans. 

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the Black community. The Food and Drug Administration has estimated that banning menthol could prevent anywhere from 300,000 to 650,000 smoking deaths, and we know that so many of those would be Black lives. 

Almost 9 out of 10 Black Americans who smoke use menthol cigarettes.

Some have alleged that a menthol ban targets the “choice” of Black Americans who smoke and could lead to increased police interaction, even though these policies regulate retailers and others in the industry. The tobacco industry’s misinformation supports this claim. This is a tactic that cynically exploits the very real and traumatic issues of police brutality and mass incarceration endured by the Black community.

Pass voting rights so we can elect politicians who will pass police reform. If you don’t want people doing side hustles for money, then pass living wages. But don’t tell Black people or poor people you have to accept death and being poisoned to prevent death and brutality at the hands of police.

Somebody paid a whole lot of money to come up with that lie. We can’t let tobacco industry money put lies and menthol in our community.

It’s time to finalize and implement this ban to save lives.

Rev. William Barber II is the president of the civil rights organization Repairers of the Breach and co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign.