When COVID-19 struck, America was awakened to the pervasive racial and ethnic health disparities that have long-fractured our health care system. Black and brown Americans were disproportionately impacted — experiencing higher rates of infection, hospitalization and death during the early stages of the pandemic.
Beyond the spotlight of a pandemic, our country has grappled for years with unconscionable gaps in cancer outcomes by race. As part of his unity agenda, and based upon his own family’s experience of loss, President Biden has launched the Cancer Moonshot to end cancer as we know it in this country.
But tackling both of these issues — health disparities and cancer mortality — doesn’t require some new breakthrough in an advanced lab. There isn’t a magic pill that is on the brink of discovery that would eliminate the racial disparity in lung cancer deaths.
However, there is a commonsense federal proposal on the table that could achieve these goals — saving an estimated 650,000 lives over the next four decades, including the lives of 255,000 Black Americans.
Last month, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advanced its effort to ban menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars, submitting regulations to the White House for final review. This historic public health action holds the potential to supercharge the Cancer Moonshot and advance health equity.
The medical community and public health experts have known for decades that menthol — like sweet and fruity flavors — is used in cigarettes and cigars to attract new, younger smokers, mask the harsh taste of tobacco, and make it harder to quit. Big Tobacco has an appalling history of aggressively advertising these deadly, addictive products to children and minority communities.
Today, 85 percent of Black smokers use menthol cigarettes, compared to 30 percent of white smokers. Similarly, Black youth smoke cigars at nearly twice the rate of their white classmates, stemming from the popularity of flavored cigars. The acute harms and disproportionate grip of menthol smoking contributes to the fact that, compared to non-Hispanic white people, the Black community is 30 percent more likely to die from heart disease and 50 percent more likely to die from a stroke. These numbers are unconscionable, and it is long past time that we act.
In 2009, Congress provided FDA with the authority to prohibit these harmful flavorings in tobacco, but the agency has run up against Big Tobacco’s deep pockets and powerful friends. The makers of Newport, Marlboro and Camel menthol cigarettes have spent tens of millions of dollars to oppose these efforts, concocting any argument they can to try to oppose this commonsense public health measure.
The industry disingenuously argues that FDA’s proposed public health measures would lead to more police harassment in communities of color. Putting aside the insincerity of that argument from corporations responsible for causing immense suffering and disease, the FDA has been crystal clear that its regulations would apply to manufacturers and retailers — with no enforcement against individual smokers. Thankfully, faith, medical and cultural leaders in the Black community — alongside the majority of the Congressional Black Caucus — have rejected Big Tobacco’s profit-driven claims for what they are.
When I was in high school, my father passed away from lung cancer due to his smoking history. I will never forget his struggle to breathe in his final days at the hospital. No family should have to experience this preventable, devastating tragedy.
The Biden administration already has taken on the gun lobby and Big Pharma and secured important legislative victories. Now, it must do the same against Big Tobacco.
The FDA has proposed many tobacco-related rules in the last five years, but none have been finalized. Proposing measures does not reduce addiction and death — implementing them does. We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to protect public health, save lives and promote health equity. It’s time for Biden to finalize these tobacco regulations.
Richard Durbin is the Senate majority whip.