{"id":2007032,"date":"2023-08-21T14:34:04","date_gmt":"2023-08-21T18:34:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/eric-garners-mother-warns-of-fda-proposed-menthol-ban-dont-make-it-a-racist-thing\/"},"modified":"2023-08-21T14:39:30","modified_gmt":"2023-08-21T18:39:30","slug":"eric-garners-mother-warns-of-fda-proposed-menthol-ban-dont-make-it-a-racist-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/eric-garners-mother-warns-of-fda-proposed-menthol-ban-dont-make-it-a-racist-thing\/","title":{"rendered":"Eric Garner&#8217;s mother cautions against turning the FDA&#8217;s proposed menthol ban into a racial issue."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Feric-garners-mother-warns-of-fda-proposed-menthol-ban-dont-make-it-a-racist-thing%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2007032&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>The FDA&#8217;s\u200b Proposed Ban on Menthol Cigarettes Sparks Concerns About Racial Disparities<\/h2>\n<p>The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is\u2064 on the verge of implementing a \u200dcomplete ban on menthol cigarettes, a move that has raised alarm among\u2064 black community activists and\u200c <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/enough-is-enough-dc-police-slam-local-politicians-for-soaring-crime-in-ad-campaign\/\" title=\"\u2018Enough Is Enough\u2019: DC Police Slam Local Politicians For Soaring Crime In Ad Campaign\">public safety experts<\/a>. They fear that the illicit markets \u200bthat will emerge as a result of the\u2063 ban will \u2064<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/4-devastating-consequences-of-the-democrat-for-the-people-act\/\" title=\"4 Devastating Consequences Of The Democrat \u2018For The People Act\u2019\">disproportionately impact communities<\/a> of color.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;Menthol has not killed anyone,\u2064 it&#8217;s nicotine,&#8221; said Gwen Carr, an activist and the mother of Eric\u200d Garner.\u200c &#8220;If you&#8217;re going to ban smoking, don&#8217;t make it a \u2062racist thing. Ban it all\u200c or ban none.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3>Debate Over Crime: Trump, DeSantis, and 2024 GOP Hopefuls&#8217; Stance<\/h3>\n<p>Advocates against smoking have been\u2062 pushing for a ban \u200bon menthol\u2062 cigarettes since 2009, \u2062when Congress exempted menthol\u200d from a ban\u2063 on flavored cigarettes. The FDA initially considered a ban in 2013 during the Obama administration and resumed the extensive\u200c administrative task in 2018. The agency is expected to\u200b announce its decision on the menthol ban this \u200dmonth.<\/p>\n<p>Menthol is a natural soothing agent\u200d for the throat and airways and is commonly used in \u200bcough suppressant medications. In cigarettes and \u2062other tobacco\u2063 products, menthol creates a cooling\u200b sensation that makes inhalation easier. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, menthol can also affect \u200dthe brain&#8217;s processing of taste and pain.<\/p>\n<p>While overall cigarette smoking rates are declining, the decline in menthol cigarette consumption is slower compared \u200dto non-menthol tobacco products. \u2062Between 2008 and 2019, the total number of cigarettes purchased or\u200c shipped for\u2063 marketing purposes dropped by 36% to 202.9 billion individual cigarettes, according to the Federal Trade Commission. \u200bHowever, menthol\u200d cigarettes only decreased \u2063by 13%\u2063 in the same period, reaching 75.1 billion in 2019. As a result, menthol cigarettes now account \u2063for a record-high 37% of the\u2063 total market.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Studies show that young people who start smoking menthol cigarettes are\u200d more\u2063 likely to become addicted and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/eric-garners-mother-warns-of-fda-proposed-menthol-ban-dont-make-it-a-racist-thing\/\" title=\"Eric Garner's mother cautions against turning the FDA's proposed menthol ban into a racial issue.\">long-term\u200c daily smokers<\/a>. It\u2019s\u2062 the only flavored combustible cigarette left on the market, therefore \u2062more appealing to youth,&#8221; according to the MD Anderson Cancer Center.<\/p>\n<p>However, advocates within the black community are concerned that a ban\u200d on menthol cigarettes will disproportionately harm\u2064 communities of color and\u200b other minority groups. In 2019, 85% of\u200d black smokers and 48%\u200b of Latino smokers preferred menthol cigarettes. Additionally, LGBT individuals, women, and lower-income \u200cindividuals were more likely \u200cto purchase menthol cigarettes than non-menthol products.<\/p>\n<p>Neil Franklin, former chairman of the policy organization Law Enforcement Action\u2062 Partnership with over 20 years of narcotics policing experience, warned that a ban \u200don menthol cigarettes, which are \u2063popular among \u200ccommunities of color, would \u200dlead to\u200b an increased police response to deal with contraband materials.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;We know for certain \u2063prohibition does not work,&#8221; said Franklin. &#8220;Some of us did not learn \u200dfrom the lessons of alcohol prohibition.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If you think law enforcement are not going to\u200b get involved, you&#8217;re sadly mistaken,&#8221; Franklin \u2063added.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Franklin and his colleague, Elliot \u2062Boyce, formerly of the New York State Police, expressed concerns \u2062that a ban would\u2063 create &#8220;violent illicit neighborhood markets&#8221;\u200c for menthol cigarettes. They also warned that\u200d children would be drawn into the sale of contraband cigarettes, similar to patterns seen with other illicit \u2064drugs.<\/p>\n<p>In the context of building trust\u2064 between black Americans and law enforcement, \u200bFranklin emphasized, &#8220;This is \u200dthe last thing we need.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We have been criminalized enough,&#8221; Carr \u2063added.<\/p>\n<p>Garner&#8217;s death in 2014, after a confrontation with \u2062New York City police officers \u2062over the sale of single cigarettes on the black market, further highlights the issue. Enforcement of illicit\u200b cigarettes in New \u200cYork became more prevalent after then-Mayor Michael\u2062 Bloomberg implemented punitive \u2062taxes on cigarettes to collect revenue and discourage \u2063smoking.<\/p>\n<p>Boyce\u200c also pointed out that China is \u2064already smuggling contraband tobacco products into \u200cthe United States, and\u2062 Chinese and Latin American cartels would easily\u2063 step in to fill the void caused by an FDA ban.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;[Smoking] \u200c is a\u200d public health problem,&#8221; said Rahn Bailey, former president of the National Medical Association. &#8220;[Solving it] with a legal solution &#8230; will cause more problems.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>To\u2063 address\u200d the concerns, both public health \u2064and law \u2063enforcement advocates recommend that the FDA conduct a racial impact study to assess how banning menthol will affect\u2064 communities of \u2062color, including the potential creation of illicit markets. They \u200calso suggest increasing\u2063 funding for education and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/who-aspires-to-control-and-manipulate-peoples-behavior-in-the-next-pandemic-trevor-loudon\/\" title=\"WHO Aspires to Control and Manipulate People\u2019s Behavior in the Next Pandemic: Trevor Loudon\">smoking cessation programs<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re always the last to get treatments,&#8221; Carr lamented. &#8220;We get the \u200bcrumbs,\u200d and a lot of times, it&#8217;s not helping \u2063us.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\">Click here<\/a> \u2062 to read more from The Washington\u2064 Examiner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The FDA plans to ban menthol cigarettes, causing concern among black community activists and safety experts. They fear that the resulting illicit markets will unfairly impact communities of color. Gwen Carr, an activist, argues that nicotine, not menthol, is the real issue, as it has caused harm but not menthol itself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2007033,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2007032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2007032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2007032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2007032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2007033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2007032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2007032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2007032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}