Letter from Jennifer Hill

To Wayne Harris: ‘I Disagree’

I appreciate former Deputy Chief Wayne Harris’ February 22 letter to the editor in response to our February 8 column on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s proposed ban on the manufacturing and selling of menthol cigarettes. Mr. Harris claims the bans are ineffective, unscientific, unjust, and reactionary, but the evidence doesn’t bear that out.

Just weeks ago, a comprehensive study on the effects of menthol cigarette bans in California, Massachusetts, 170 U.S. cities, and numerous countries by University of North Carolina behavior health scientists was published in the journal, “Nicotine and Tobacco Research.” Their study found almost a quarter (24 percent) of menthol cigarette smokers quit smoking altogether, 50 percent of menthol smokers switched to smoking non-menthol cigarettes, and 12 percent switched to other flavored tobacco products. Additionally, they did not find an increase in the use of illicit products.
At the same time of the UNC publication, The Mellman Group, an opinion research organization, released a survey showing that 62 percent of Black voters support a national ban on the manufacturing and selling of menthol cigarettes, while only 25 percent of them did not.

The data also show why a ban on menthol cigarettes is a justice and health equity issue: Tobacco-related diseases are the number one cause of preventable deaths, and while Black Americans make up 12 percent of the U.S. population, they account for 50 percent of deaths from smoking menthol cigarettes. And if by “reactionary,” Mr. Harris means the proposed federal ban was thrown together quickly in response to those terrible facts, I will point out that the African American health organizations, such as the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council, have worked for decades on it to save hundreds of thousands of Black Americans’ lives.

Finally, the FDA’s proposed ban does not prohibit individual consumers from possession or use of menthol cigarettes. Instead, the ban applies to manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, importers, and retailers. State and local law enforcement will not be tasked with enforcing the ban, precluding another tragic death like Eric Garner’s.

Jennifer Hill
Community Engagement Coordinator
for Tobacco Free Communities: Delaware, Otsego and Schoharie