Hispanic nonprofit groups on Wednesday criticized what was reportedly a last-ditch move by the Biden administration to reduce the amount of nicotine in cigarettes.
Javier Palomares, president and CEO of the U.S. Hispanic Business Council (USHBC), called the move “a last-minute tobacco overregulation” and “tone-deaf” in a statement to the Daily Caller. accused of being.
“The rule mandating lower nicotine levels in cigarettes is another example of the many reasons why so many voters, especially Hispanic voters, felt abandoned by Democrats in 2024,” Palomares said. I wrote it. “While our communities and businesses grapple with unprecedented cost of living and economic uncertainty, the government’s insensitive approach focuses on telling voters what they have decided is good for them. I keep guessing.”
Palomares’ statement suggests that the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) proposal to standardize nicotine thresholds will pass White House review and could in principle be issued by the end of President Joe Biden’s term on January 20. It has been reported that there is.
The FDA had proposed tobacco product standards regarding nicotine levels in certain tobacco products. rule Go back to 2022 to reduce the 480,000 annual deaths related to smoking. In 2018, FDA researchers study The rules could reduce smoking rates from the current 12.8% to 1.4% by 2060. (Related: ‘Unusual’ and ‘rare’ throat complications experienced by cigarette smokers)
This rule conflicts with the taxpayer’s right of American adults to purchase cigarettes, which are “legally sold, responsibly sold, heavily taxed, and perhaps the most regulated product in the nation.” Deaf Palomares added.
It could also deprive U.S. public schools of $33 billion in tax revenue from cigarette sales and $14 billion in annual cigarette sales by small businesses, leaving a void in the black market run by cartels, Palomares said. insisted.
Palomares said USHBC does not promote smoking.
“[B]”Regulations and bans don’t work,” he wrote, urging Biden and the FDA to focus on other public health issues instead.
Opinions are divided on the proposed rules.
Reducing and standardizing the amount of nicotine in cigarettes could limit the potential for addiction and help smokers break the habit, said a nicotine addiction researcher at the University of Minnesota Medical School. . said Axios.
David Margolius, director of public health in Cleveland, Ohio, reportedly agreed.
However, representatives of the other two organizations (both Liberals) took different positions.
Guy Bentley, director of consumer freedom at the Reason Foundation, told Axios that the rule would open up an “$80 billion market” to “Mexican cartels and the Chinese Communist Party.”
Jeffrey A. Singer, senior research fellow at the Cato Institute, said: I wrote Researchers say some smokers may smoke multiple cigarettes with reduced nicotine to get the same effect as cutting back on regular cigarettes. A black market for high-nicotine cigarettes could emerge, Singer argued.
