The Reverend Al Sharpton urged the Biden administration to stop its plan to ban menthol cigarettes, saying the move would only lead to illegal markets and potentially deadly battles like the Eric Garner case.
Sharpton’s National Action Network released a letter to Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Robert Califf citing the case of Garner, who died in July 2014 in Staten Island after being placed in illegal confinement by NYPD officers trying to arrest the 43-year-old. residents for selling untaxed cigarettes.
The FDA sent its final proposal for the ban to the White House Office of Management and Budget in October for review, signaling the bulb mandate is in its final stages of approval.
The OMB is set to conduct interviews with experts and others on the issue over the next three months before moving forward with the proposal, according to the agency’s website.
“Banning menthol will create an illegal market and more police interaction, especially in minority communities,” NAN wrote in a June 2022 letter to Califf obtained by The Post. “For example, Eric Garner was a black man who was killed by the NYPD for selling loose and untaxed cigarettes,”
“NAN is uniquely qualified to offer a valuable civil rights perspective on our concerns and unintended consequences,” said the letter, which listed Sharpton along with NAN Chairman Franklyn Richardson.
National Action Network Rev. Al Sharpton has opposed the Biden administration’s plan to ban menthol cigarettes.Stephen Lovekin/Shutterstock The NAN letter cited the death of Eric Garner, who was illegally detained by an NYPD officer while trying to sell loose cigarettes.
“Historically, the policies that led to the ban had profound racial justice implications,” the organization added.
Civil rights leaders are asking why federal officials are targeting a ban on menthol cigarettes, which are disproportionately favored by black smokers, while other cigarettes smoked by whites are not banned.
“Proponents of the proposed regulations cannot explain why the preferred products for black adult smokers will be banned while the majority of selected products will remain legal and available,” the NAN leader said.
They said the ban “puts a microscope on minority communities.”
NAN claimed in a letter to the FDA that the menthol ban would “create an illegal market and more police interaction.” Getty Images/iStockphoto
Preachers also said they were baffled by the push for a ban, given how overall smoking rates have fallen significantly.
Sharpton and Richardson also took a libertarian tone.
“The role of government in a free society is to protect one’s rights from being violated by their fellow citizens, not to ensure that individuals never make bad personnel decisions,” the NAN letter said. “If some people continue to smoke despite all these factors, they should be free to do so.
The FDA sent its final proposal for the ban to the White House Office of Management and Budget in October for review.AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File
“This proposed regulation will not reduce the number of people who smoke: Instead it will increase the number of people who use illegal tobacco, creating an underground market for menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars that will go unregulated,” NAN leaders wrote.
“Prohibition will attract black market suppliers and criminal networks to meet demand, as alcohol and drug prohibitions have shown historically to trigger criminal penalties, disproportionately impact people of color and prioritize criminals over public health and harm reduction.”
Civil rights advocates say they favor health education programs and smoking cessation programs and other measures “that do not have serious implications for unintended consequences.”
NAN argued that the bulb ban “puts a microscope on minority communities.” Getty Images
Gwen Carr, the mother of Eric Garner, also led the campaign against the menthol ban. In fact last week he urged Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to oppose the proposed ban.
Opposition from Carr, Sharpton and others blocked attempts in New York in Albany and the New York City Council to ban menthol cigs.
The issue has divided the black community. The NAACP supported the menthol ban, arguing that the tobacco industry had marketed to blacks to associate them with flavored smoke.
Sharpton told The Post on Sunday that Carr is a member of NAN and that he and the organization are following his direction on the issue.
President Biden’s FDA in April 2021 announced proposed federal regulations to ban minty cigarettes, along with flavored cigars — both of which, the agency said, are not particularly popular with black smokers.
At the time, the FDA cited studies that showed a menthol ban would prompt 923,000 smokers — including 230,000 black Americans — to quit within 13 to 17 months.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
