BACKGROUND AND IMPLEMENTATION CHALLENGES: In the United States, tobacco corporations have targeted people of color for generations, specficially with advertising for menthol cigarettes. As a result, 85% of African-Americans who smoke use menthol cigarettes. Menthol was not included in the federal flavors ban, and remains on the market in most states.
INTERVENTION OR RESPONSE: Advocates in the United States have been tackling this problem at a local, national, and international level, through local legislation, a lawsuit against the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and submissions to international human rights bodies, specifcially the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD).
RESULTS AND IMPACT: We’ve seen success locally, nationally and internationally. Locally, our allies in Washington D.C. used human rights arguments to help pass a menthol ban. Nationally, the lawsuit against the F.D.A. led to a draft rule banning menthol flavoring in cigarettes, which as since stalled, resulting in a second lawsuit. Internationally, advocacy ensured that tobacco was included in a recent comment from the Committee on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination, which will help ensure that people of all races are protected from the harms of tobacco.
CONCLUSIONS: While menthol in the United States is used as an illustration, many other tobacco control issues can be framed as a human rights and/or social justice issue, including exporting tobacco products to LMICs, labor, the environment, targeting the LGBTQIA+ community, etc. Social justice and human rights arguments can catalyze progress towards ending the tobacco epidemic. The public health community should utilize these arguments in their advocacy at the local, national, and international level.