On Jan. 1, the City of Columbus did what the federal government has failed to do for years, then it all came crashing down. On New Years, the City of Columbus banned the sale of flavored tobacco products including menthol tobacco; three weeks later the State of Ohio Legislature voted to repeal the ban and strip cities of their individual rights to regulate what type of tobacco is sold. 

On the national level, President Biden decided on Friday, April 26th, to delay his decision to ban menthol (a chemical used to produce a minty flavor) tobacco products. Menthol is used in order to make smoking feel less harsh and painful as it alters the way the brain registers pain.

Menthol along with flavored tobacco are being proposed by the FDA to be banned because menthol and other flavors are proven to be more deadly and addictive than regular tobacco and they specifically appeal to children. Menthol tobacco has led to 10.1 million new smokers and 378,000 premature deaths since 1980 and flavored tobacco as a whole constitutes 89.7% of child smokers. The Surgeon General of the United States Jeroeme Adams urges action against flavored tobacco and menthol used against kids.

“We must take aggressive steps to protect our children from these highly potent products (flavored tobacco) that risk exposing a new generation of young people to nicotine,” Adams said.

Despite the health risks, these bans are facing strong opposition from both parties. But In Ohio it’s all Republicans, Republican Senators voted to repeal the Columbus flavored tobacco ban due to concerns over a loss of tax revenue.

“I think what we have is not really an issue of health and safety. It’s an issue of revenue and taxes,” Ohio representative Jon Cross (R) said.

Well the numbers are there, 3 million total years of life have been lost since 1980 solely because of menthol tobacco. Representative Cross is wrong, this is an issue of health and he along with the 23 other Republican Senators that voted to overturn the tobacco ban will be responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of children and adults across Ohio.

“There are 259,000 children alive in Ohio today who will die prematurely from a smoking-related disease,” said Leo Almeida, government relations director of the organization’s Cancer Action Network.

Ohio lawmakers have gone out of their way to restrict a ban that many countries across the world already have implemented. Canada, Brazil and the entire European Union plus the U.K. have banned flavored tobacco. A menthol and flavored tobacco ban also has widespread popularity with Americans, 62% support a flavored tobacco ban, and 57% of Americans support banning all tobacco products entirely. The reason it is so popular and widespread; it saves lives.

On the national level, a menthol ban is facing a pause from the Biden administration over a rumored concern about losing Black voters in an election year. This is because menthol cigarettes have been proven to target African-Americans thus making them more popular among this demographic, 81% of black smokers consume menthol cigarettes compared to 34% of white smokers. This is due to historical promotion of menthol brands to black communities with the use of concert sponsorships, free samples and even charging lower prices for menthol cigarettes in black neighborhoods. Resulting in the Biden administration being wary of losing voters from a crucial demographic if they were to pursue a ban. In 2020, 87% of Black men voted for Biden compared to 57% of black men who plan to vote for Biden currently showing his stark decrease in popularity amongst the demographic.

But leaders in the black community as well 62% of African-Americans support banning menthol tobacco.

“Black voters want to see a menthol ban. Now, it’s time for the Biden Administration to put people over profits and swiftly enact a rule that will save countless Black lives.” The NAACP said in a statement. “We’re done waiting. The NAACP will continue to do everything in its power to hold this Administration accountable to their promises to our community. Enough is enough. Our lives are at stake.

If black voters as well as African-American advocacy groups support a menthol ban, then the time to act is now as a possible ban could save up to 654,000 lives over 40 years and result in a 16% reduction in smoking. Despite this, menthol and flavored tobacco bans have historically been hard to pass, in 2009 an attempt by Congress to restrict flavored tobacco was delayed years due to pushback from Big Tobacco and ultimately excluded regulation for menthol tobacco.

“There’s been nobody in the White House — under Biden or under Obama, and certainly not Trump — who was interested in helping FDA get that clearance (for a ban) through,”  former head of the FDA’s tobacco policy office Eric Lindblom said.

Legislators have continued to fail all because of political disputes, yet there is no time left for political disputes, now is the time to save kids’ lives. If we don’t act now and current smoking trends continue 5.6 million of today’s children will ultimately die prematurely from smoking-related illnesses. That is 1 out of every 13 kids. The solution is there: ban flavored tobacco, the question is, are our legislators willing to do it

So, I call on our state legislators to put people over profits and save children by passing a flavored tobacco ban. If you choose to make excuses, your constituents will be reminded that you are the reason that mothers and fathers are burying their children. And President Biden, be bold and pass a menthol ban, someone who refuses to take action for the sake of the presidency is not worthy of the title, I urge you to save lives not votes. Lastly readers, protest, write to senators, remind our legislators they work for us and that they can no longer get away with allowing the poisoning of children. Let’s do the right thing, let’s make our voices heard, together we can save lives and change our country.