WASHINGTON (AP) — Anti-smoking groups sued the U.S. government Tuesday over a long-awaited ban on menthol cigarettes, which has been idling at the White House for months.
The lawsuit is the latest effort to force the government to ban menthols, which are disproportionately used by Black smokers and young people. It comes amid growing concerns from advocates that the federal plan could be derailed by election-year politics.
Health officials under President Joe Biden initially targeted last August to publish the rule eliminating the minty flavor. Late last year, White House officials said they would take until March to review the rule. Three nonprofit groups, including Action on Smoking and Health, filed their lawsuit in a federal court in California after the March deadline passed.
“Because of defendants’ inaction, tobacco companies have continued to use menthol cigarettes to target youth, women, and the Black community — all to the detriment of public health,” the groups state in their complaint.
A spokesperson for the White House declined to comment on the lawsuit Tuesday.
The Food and Drug Administration has spent years developing the plan to eliminate menthol, estimating it could prevent 300,000 to 650,000 smoking deaths over several decades. Most of those preventable deaths would be among Black Americans.
Like all major federal regulations, the plan must get final approval from the White House.
Previous FDA efforts on menthol have been scuttled by tobacco industry pushback or competing political priorities across several administrations. The latest delay comes as Democrats voice worries about Biden’s prospects in a rematch against former President Donald Trump.
White House officials have held dozens of meetings with groups opposing the menthol ban, including civil rights advocates, business owners and law enforcement officials. Some suggested a rule targeting menthols could suppress Biden's turnout among Black voters. In almost all cases, groups opposing the ban receive financial support from tobacco companies.
In recent months, supporters of the plan have tried to assure the White House that banning menthol will not hurt Biden’s re-election chances.
“If Black lives truly matter, then we must end the sale of menthol cigarettes and do it now,” said Dr. Carol McGruder, of the African American Tobacco Control Leadership, in a statement. McGruder's group is among those suing the FDA and its parent agency, the Department of Health and Human Services.
A lawyer who helped file the lawsuit said the government will have about two months to respond.
A 2020 lawsuit by the same groups jump-started FDA's work on menthol, alleging that the agency had “unreasonably delayed” action against the flavor.
Menthol is the only cigarette flavor that was not banned under the 2009 law that gave the FDA authority over tobacco products, an exemption negotiated by industry lobbyists. The act did, though, instruct the agency to continue to weigh whether to ban menthol.
The flavor’s persistence has infuriated anti-smoking advocates, who point to research that menthol’s numbing effect masks the harshness of smoking, making it easier to start and harder to quit.
More than 11% of U.S. adults smoke, with rates roughly even between white and Black populations. About 80% of Black smokers — and most teenagers who smoke — use menthol.
Associated Press writer Zeke Miller contributed to this story
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
FILE - Menthol cigarettes and other tobacco products are displayed at a store in San Francisco on May 17, 2018. Anti-smoking groups filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government on Tuesday, April 2, 2024, over a long-awaited ban on menthol cigarettes, which has been idling at the White House for months. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — The planned presidential debates between Joe Biden and Donald Trump that were swiftly organized this week are a coup for CNN and ABC News — but virtually guaranteed to be among the least-watched general election contests ever.
The rival campaigns skirted the Commission on Presidential Debates, which has organized the events for 36 years with a goal of getting them before as many eyes as possible.
CNN said Friday that it will make its debate, scheduled for June 27 with Jake Tapper and Dana Bash as moderators, available for simulcast on any U.S. network with a news division that wants it, and allow free entry to CNN.com to stream it. ABC had said on Wednesday that it would allow networks and streaming services to simulcast its debate, set for Sept. 10 with David Muir and Linsey Davis as moderators.
A debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and whomever former President Trump chooses as his running mate is expected to air this summer on CBS. Fox News said it was seeking a second undercard debate but the Biden campaign signaled it would reject that
Each of the two debates between Biden and Trump in 2020 were carried on at least 16 networks, according to the Nielsen company. The first was seen by 73.1 million viewers, the second by 63 million.
Debates prior to a party's nominating process, which Trump skipped this year, are usually organized and broadcast by individual media organizations. The tradition has been different for those organized by the commission during general election campaigns, said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, and member of a group of experts Annenberg organized a decade ago that explored ways to increase viewership.
“It's the public's debate,” Jamieson said.
It’s not certain how many other networks will carry the debates even with the opportunity. Only PBS has said that it would; other networks have yet to give a public commitment.
For CNN leaders, there was a great temptation to keep it for themselves. It would have likely been the most-watched event ever on a network that is struggling in ratings. CNN's chief executive, Mark Thompson, made a point in tying the debate to the brand on Wednesday when he announced the agreement to hold it during a sales presentation to advertisers in New York.
“When people have something important to say,” Thompson said, “they say it on CNN.”
CNN said Wednesday the debate would also air live on its international and Spanish-speaking networks, and stream on CNN Max and CNN.com.
The pool of people available to watch on CNN's main television network is dwindling due to cord-cutting of cable and satellite services. CNN was available in 71% of American homes with television in May 2020; this month it's just under 54%, Nielsen said.
Keeping the debate on CNN alone would have run up against stout criticism that it's not the public-spirited thing to do, something ABC moved quickly to avoid.
Political polarization that has spread to the media would also likely cut into viewership if the event was not shared, Jamieson said. Would Fox News viewers, after years of hearing CNN criticized by some of their favorite politicians and media figures, turn to CNN for a debate or skip it entirely?
Some of those executives would have to swallow hard to carry another network's personalities on their air, with the risk some of their regular viewers might like them and switch allegiances. Pressure to carry the debates for public service reasons would be intense, though.
Despite worries about how many people will watch, Jamieson said there's some irony in that there's a lot to like about the proposed ground rules for the event. So far, the plans are to hold them in television studios without an audience.
That's something the Annenberg group had proposed a decade ago, saying an audience that reacts to what the candidates are saying is often a distraction, and that audience is usually packed with partisans on both sides.
If the two campaigns agree to rules where one candidate's microphone would be shut off while his opponent answers a question, it would go a long way to solving what has been a more frequent problem recently with politicians interrupting and talking over an opponent, she said.
“If someone had told me that there was going to be some good news about political discourse this year, I would have told them they were delusional,” she said.
David Bauder writes about media for The Associated Press. Follow him at http://twitter.com/dbauder.
FILE - CNN anchors Jake Tapper, left, and Dana Bash, right, speaking to members of the audience before the start of the CNN Republican presidential debate in Des Moines, Iowa, Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024. The two planned presidential debates between Joe Biden and Donald Trump that were swiftly organized this week, Thursday, May 16, 2024, are good news for CNN and ABC News. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
FILE - ABC World News Tonight Anchor David Muir, left, addresses members of the audience while standing with ABC News Live Anchor Linsey Davis, Friday, Feb. 7, 2020 in Manchester, N.H. The two planned presidential debates between Joe Biden and Donald Trump that were swiftly organized this week, Thursday, May 16, 2024, are good news for CNN and ABC News.(AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File)
