(AmericanProsperity.com) – The Biden Administration is working on regulations for menthol cigarettes. The main people who oppose regulations include small businesses, civil rights groups, law enforcement, and free market consumer groups since it targets minority groups and may have a detrimental effect on business profits.
The Food and Drug Administration first proposed the regulations which have sparked a lot of debate since their announcement. The regulation would broadly ban menthol cigarettes, although the FDA has missed target dates to set the ban fully.
According to an FDA spokesperson, “The FDA remains committed to issuing the tobacco product standards for menthol in cigarettes and characterizing flavors in cigars as expeditiously as possible; these rules have been submitted to the Office of Management and Budget for review, which is the final step in the rulemaking process.”
The spokesperson did say that they were limited in what they could say after they handed off the regulation to the White House for approval.
Since the delays in approving and finalizing the regulations, there has been a lot of controversy surrounding the tobacco industry and also the legitimacy of banning solely menthol cigarettes.
Karen Knudsen, the CEO of the American Cancer Society said, “This continued inaction is a shocking deference to the tobacco industry, which has repeatedly demonstrated its willingness to profit from products that result in death.”
Some people have said that bans like this simply do not work and that the regulations won’t make people stop using them but could lead to negative effects. Others are concerned about the sales cut that businesses like convenience stores might take because of this as well.
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