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Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I have come to the floor many times to voice my frustration with the timid, ineffective job by the Food and Drug Administration in protecting American children and consumers from Big Tobacco. With new threats like vaping, the FDA has failed--utterly failed--to use its authority under the law to clear the market in the United States of unauthorized e-cigarettes. These addictive products are targeting children with sweet and fruity flavors. Yet the Food and Drug Administration has largely neglected its public health responsibility to regulate these products.

But, today, I want to discuss an area where the FDA can make progress that has the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives. Last month, the FDA submitted a regulation to the White House for final review. This proposed regulation would ban the sale of menthol cigarettes and prohibit the use of flavorings in cigars.

Scientists have known for years that flavors play a powerful role in addicting people to tobacco by masking the harsh taste of their product, but when Congress banned the use of most flavors of tobacco in 2009, Big Tobacco secured a loophole for menthol. Why? Addiction is profitable.

For decades, menthol cigarettes, in particular, have been marketed aggressively to the African-American community in the United States, through free samples, sponsorship of cultural events, and heavy advertising. As a result, today--today--85 percent of Black smokers use menthol cigarettes, compared to 30 percent of White smokers.

It is part of the reason why Black adults are 30 percent more likely to die from heart disease and 50 percent more likely to die from stroke, compared to White Americans.

Right before Thanksgiving, I met in my office with Marsha Hike, who lives in Chicago. She was in Washington because November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month. She shared the fact that lung cancer is the No. 1 cause of cancer death in America. The No. 1 cause of cancer death in America: lung cancer, killing more Americans than breast cancer, prostate cancer, and colorectal cancer combined.

She met with me because six of her dearest family members have died from lung cancer due to smoking. I am glad there is greater attention today on topics like health disparities, equity, and the underlying factors for why Black people live sicker and die younger in America.

FDA's proposal would eliminate the racial disparity among cancer deaths between Black and White Americans, saving 650,000 lives.

I take this issue very personally. When I was a sophomore in high school, my father died of lung cancer. He was 53 years old. He spent 90 days--almost 100 days--in the hospital before he died, and I was by his bedside regularly. It made a profound impact on me as a high school kid, and little did I know that I would be able to follow up on this issue when I came to the House of Representatives by passing legislation to ban smoking on airplanes and taking Big Tobacco on ever since. The battle continues.

I know what the reaction is that the decision to ban menthol in cigarettes would be unpopular among the African-American population and may be reflected in the next vote. I think that is greatly exaggerated.

The majority of the Members of the Black caucus in Congress support this ban on menthol. And I want to make it clear, they are peddling stories--Big Tobacco is--that we are going to go out and arrest African Americans if they use menthol cigarettes, but that is not the case at all. The FDA proposal would take all of the action against the producers of the cigarettes, not the consumers. The consumers are not drawn into this in terms of any legal liability nor should they be.

The question is, do we care enough about these African Americans, their families, and their future to make an unpopular--to some-- decision to move forward to make America a healthier, safer place to live? I hope we do.

I don't want any more families to experience the suffering that I went through and families do every day.

The Biden administration has an incredible track record of taking on big challenges and delivering. It has launched the Cancer Moonshot, created a new Federal research Agency, ARPA-H, to accelerate cures for patients. President Biden has taken on the gun lobby and Big Pharma and secured important victories with the passage last year of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.

Now is the time to do the same against Big Tobacco, which is responsible for nearly half a million deaths per year. I urge the Biden administration to look carefully at the proposal from the FDA and swiftly finalize its rules on menthol and flavored cigars, which will save lives and reduce suffering, especially for communities of color.

This is an issue that is personal to many Americans. We didn't choose it. Addiction led our family members to face illness and sometimes death. Are we going to do something for the next generation of African Americans who are being harassed in the advertising and marketing of this product to the detriment of their future?

I hope that President Biden will do that.

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