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Menthol cigarettes are targeted at Black smokers. FDA must ban them.

Readers: In April, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a proposed ban on menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars that it says will significantly decrease disease and death from tobacco. We are sharing two op-eds with opposing views on the ban. This one is from a healthcare business professional in Raleigh.

Recently, the FDA announced it was pushing back its deadline for public comments on a proposed ban that would end the sale of menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars. The deadline is now Aug. 2 to allow “adequate time” for people to submit comments.

I think a lot about time a lot, especially on this issue.

In the 1950s, less than 10% of Black Americans who smoked used menthol products. Today, it’s 85%, including more than half of Black middle and high school kids who smoke.

How did that happen? For decades, tobacco companies have used every scheme in their deadly playbook — slick ad campaigns, event sponsorships, coupons, even free samples — to specifically target Black families and neighborhoods. It’s no accident that tobacco use is the leading cause of death among Black people in America, killing more than 45,000 per year. Menthol cigarettes, which make it easier to start smoking and harder to quit, are a major contributor to these fatalities.

To tobacco companies, that’s time well spent.

In 2009, Congress passed a law ending the sale of all flavored cigarettes — except menthol, which it left to the discretion of the FDA. The exclusion was no accident; tobacco companies lobbied furiously to protect their favorite flavor.

In 2011, an FDA advisory committee concluded that “removal of menthol cigarettes from the marketplace would benefit public health in the United States.” But for more than a decade, the FDA refused to act, and tobacco companies have enjoyed free rein to continue pushing these deadly products on communities like mine.

The consequences have been catastrophic. Research shows menthol cigarettes hooked more than 10 million new smokers between 1980 and 2018, causing hundreds of thousands of premature deaths.

To those of us who care more about saving lives and protecting health than tobacco company profits, that’s time wasted.

This is personal to me because my parents are two of the tobacco companies’ victims. My father started smoking at 14, when the dangers of smoking were less widely known because tobacco companies were so effective at hiding and even lying about the consequences. I was born with congenital heart disease, and when I had open-heart surgery at 2½ years old, my mom started smoking to deal with the stress. A lot of their friends smoked, too; I vividly recall the distinct smell of menthol cigarettes and flavored cigar tobacco throughout our home.

My siblings, friends and I were exposed to this toxic odor for years. Given my heart condition, I will likely suffer at some point from breathing in so much secondhand smoke.

My father died from lung cancer and COPD. My mother passed away following multiple strokes and heart failure, among the most common tobacco-related health conditions. These were slow, painful and agonizing deaths.

What I wouldn’t give to have more time with them.

That’s why I’m fighting hard alongside fellow American Heart Association volunteers to urge the FDA to finally get rid of menthol cigarettes and all flavored cigars. I shared my story directly with the FDA during a recent listening session the agency held. It’s never easy to relive these painful moments from my past, but when the stakes are this high, staying silent is not an option.

Since tobacco companies don’t care who they kill, it’s up to the rest of us to send them a simple message: Your time is up. Our message to the FDA is just as clear: When it comes to ending the sale of menthol cigarettes and all flavored cigars, the time to act is now.

Yolanda Dickerson is a healthcare business professional in Raleigh.



Correction: An author’s note on Mick Mulvaney’s July 6 op-ed listed incorrect information. Mulvaney was special US envoy to Northern Ireland when he resigned from the Trump administration.