Leading Health Groups Slam NYC Council For Not Banning Menthol Cigarettes This Session

BROOKLYN, NY (12/20/2023) (readMedia)-- Today, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, and American Cancer Society slammed the New York City Council for failing to ban menthol cigarettes this session and protect Black and brown communities. Intro 577 – legislation that will end the sale of menthol cigarettes in New York City – has majority support in the City Council, along with Civil rights leaders, including Dr. Hazel Dukes, and a majority of the New York City Council Black, Latino and Asian Caucus (BLAC) are also in support of the ban. The Health Chair, Councilwoman Lynn Shulman, is a sponsor. The groups push for the Council to hold a hearing on this bill as soon as the new session begins in January.

In the letter, the groups write: "For nearly two years, we have waited patiently for the City Council to advance vital legislation protecting New Yorkers from dangerous menthol cigarettes. Yet despite the fact that the legislation is now supported by half of the Council, the Health Committee has declined to hold - or perhaps been prevented from holding - even a hearing on the bill. We, leading health groups in New York, are extremely disappointed."

Full letter is below and attached.

Background

Menthol, which is an organic compound made from peppermint, masks the harsh taste of tobacco flavor, making it easier to start smoking and harder to quit. Big Tobacco has aggressively marketed flavored tobacco products to underage users for decades to hook new generations of smokers-particularly in communities of color, where menthol cigarettes are sold to young people, creating disproportionately negative health outcomes for Black Americans, who are 18% more likely to die from a disease from smoking-related illness than white smokers.

In New York City, 89 percent of Black adults and 63 percent of Latino adults who smoke use menthol cigarettes, as compared to 32 percent of white adults. More than half of youth smokers and seven-out-of-ten young African Americans smoke menthols. Eight-out-of-ten African Americans prefer menthols overall.

According to a study done by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) estimated that if the City implemented a ban on the sale of menthol cigarettes today, over the next two years, nearly 90,000 New Yorkers (the majority of whom being Black and Latino adults) would quit smoking, and nearly 3,000 young adults would not start smoking entirely who would have otherwise.

In 2013, the City Council enacted a local law that banned the sale of flavored tobacco products – but excluded menthol. In 2019, the New York City Council passed legislation banning flavored e-cigarettes, but a ban on menthol products was not brought for a vote.

Members of the Menthols Kill NYC coalition include: Statewide National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, NY African American Clergy and Elected Official organization (AACEO), American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), New York Communities for Change, the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council NAATPN, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, Neighbors in Action United Concerned Citizens, Bishop Courtenay of Emmanuel Church of God in Brooklyn, Rev. Addie Banks of The Groundswell Group, Miss Abbie's Kids, Arthur Ashe Institute Public Health, among others

LETTER:

Speaker Adrienne Adams

City Hall

New York, NY 10007

Health Committee Chair Lynn Schulman

250 Broadway Suite 1873

New York, NY 10007

December 20, 2023

To Speaker Adams and Chair Schulman:

For nearly two years, we have waited patiently for the City Council to advance vital legislation protecting New Yorkers from dangerous menthol cigarettes. Yet despite the fact that the legislation is now supported by half of the Council, the Health Committee has declined to hold - or perhaps been prevented from holding - even a hearing on the bill.

We, leading health groups in New York, are extremely disappointed.

As we know you know, menthol cigarettes are a very addictive substance, used by Big Tobacco to target young people and people of color. Mentholated cigarettes are the most common product young people use to start smoking, and far more addictive than regular tobacco because it is easier to smoke. Menthol reduces the harshness of smoking, making menthol products more appealing to new and young users to experiment with cigarettes and progress to regular use. This leads to wildly disproportionate rates of death and illness for people of color in New York. In the 1950s, menthol smokers accounted for 5 percent of Black smokers; now, it's 85 percent. In New York City, 89 percent of Black adults who smoke and 68 percent Latino adults who smoke use menthol cigarettes – and that's compared to only 32% of white smokers.

We know you know this because of your past support for restricting the sale of menthol. In fact, Speaker Adams said before she was speaker:

"Menthol cigarettes have impacted far too many of our children, particularly from Black and Brown communities. We must take the necessary steps to protect their health. I look forward to supporting this crucial legislation again in the next term."

And Chair Shulman is a sponsor of the proposed legislation.

So we are concerned that your lack of action to protect children and people of color from being targeted by Big Tobacco is due to increased pressure from special interests who profit from the sale of menthol, or perhaps partially due to concerns about details of the legislation that are, in fact, being addressed.

The main sponsors of this legislation have worked over the last two years to address the legitimate concerns of their colleagues in the Council and advocates on this issue. In particular, they have pledged to make amendments that would prohibit police officers from enforcing restricted menthol sales. But these amendments cannot be made formally without a hearing-nor can a vote be held.

We ask that you schedule a hearing on this issue at the start of next session so that it can be debated and Council Members can vote. It is one thing if Council Members debate and actually decide to vote against restricting the sale of menthol cigarettes, but it is quite another if they are prohibited from discussing the legislation in a hearing or voting at all. Far too many New Yorkers are dying from preventable illness because of menthol cigarettes; we cannot let this legislation die as well.

Sincerely,

American Heart Association

American Lung Association

Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids

American Cancer Society