WASHINGTON (AP) — For the second time in recent months, President Joe Biden‘s administration has delayed a sweeping plan to ban menthol cigarettes, a decision that is certain to infuriate anti-smoking advocates but could avoid angering Black voters ahead of November elections.
In a statement Friday, Biden’s top health official gave no timeline for issuing the rule, saying only that the administration would take more time to consider feedback, including from civil rights groups.
“It’s clear that there are still more conversations to have, and that will take significantly more time,” said Health and Human Service Secretary Xavier Becerra, in a statement.
The White House has held dozens of meetings in recent months with groups opposing the ban, including civil rights organizers, law enforcement officials and small business owners.
The announcement is another setback for the health officials at the Food and Drug Administration, who drafted the ban and predicted it would prevent hundreds of thousands of smoking-related deaths over 40 years. The agency has worked toward banning menthol across multiple administrations for more than a decade without ever finalizing a rule.
Online retailer Shein is latest to face strict European Union digital regulations
Kenneth Eugene Smith: Alabama carries out first US nitrogen gas execution
Kenneth Eugene Smith: Alabama carries out first US nitrogen gas execution
US regulator grounds Boeing MAX 9 indefinitely, flights cancelled
Moment RAF Typhoon unleashes laser
The engineer designing needles to euthanise whales
Unlicensed Hastings driver toppled motorcyclist, drove over him, causing fatal injuries, then fled
Millions of donkeys killed each year to make medicine
Judge upholds disqualification of challenger to judge in Trump’s Georgia election interference case
Live updates: Hurricanes v Chiefs, Super Rugby Pacific round 8
Pet Shop Boys know the secret to staying cool, four decades in
Swedish alarm after defence chiefs' war warning