Jonathan Stempel
(Reuters) – The Biden administration has asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit by anti-smoking groups seeking to end a nearly yearlong backlog and ban menthol cigarettes, which are disproportionately used by blacks and young people.
In a court filing Thursday evening, the Food and Drug Administration said the delay was not unreasonable because it had yet to determine that the ban was “consistent with protecting the public health.”
It also said the plaintiffs had no direct interest in the ban and therefore did not have standing to sue, citing the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 13 decision to reject a proposal by anti-abortion groups and doctors to limit access to the widely used pill. termination of pregnancy.
The lawsuit was filed April 2 in federal court in Oakland, California, by the American Medical Association, the African American Tobacco Control Council, Action on Smoking and Health and the National Medical Association.
An attorney for the groups had no immediate comment Friday.
Menthol, which occurs naturally in peppermint and similar plants, is the only cigarette flavoring still permitted by the 2009 law that gave the FDA authority to regulate tobacco.
State health officials had hoped to ban the flavor last August, but pushed back the date several times.
The latest delay came on April 26, when Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra suggested the issue could drag on beyond the November election, saying negotiations would take “considerably longer.”
Health and Human Services is the lead agency of the FDA.
The ban would likely cost cigarette companies such as Altria (NYSE:) and British American Tobacco (NYSE:) billions of dollars in annual revenue.
It could also prevent Black voters from backing President Joe Biden as the Democrat seeks re-election.
About 81% of black adults who smoke cigarettes use menthol varieties, compared with just 34% of white adults, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Among smokers ages 18 to 25, 53% smoked menthol cigarettes, compared with 42% of smokers over 35, according to the CDC.
The FDA has said that quitting menthol could prevent between 324,000 and 654,000 smoking-related deaths in the United States over 40 years.
The case is African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council et al. v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services et al., U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 24-01992.