The Washington Post

How Big Tobacco created a menthol ban controversy

With billions of dollars on the line, Big Tobacco is ramping up efforts to sway public opinion against a potential menthol ban. In fact, these companies have increasingly supported civil rights causes important to marginalized groups. And now, the Biden administration has yet again delayed its plans to ban menthol cigarettes after opponents of the ban warned such a move could alienate the president’s Black supporters ahead of the election.

“The industry is picking up their activities using a playbook they had created decades ago,” said Valerie Yerger, a health policy professor at the University of California at San Francisco, who wrote a paper 20 years ago detailing how the tobacco industry partnered with Black organizations. “We will always have individuals within these communities who will take money and find a way to justify their relationships with this industry.”

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