LGBTQ+ Joint Letter to FDA on Menthol
August 2, 2022
Dear Food & Drug Administration,
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, menthol continues to widen tobacco health disparities for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) communities.1 Tobacco use causes cancer, heart disease, stroke, lung diseases, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and accelerates HIV-related co-morbidities, an additional health burden the LGBTQ+ population can ill afford.
Many groups that intersect with LGBTQ+ communities also experience the disproportionate burden of tobacco use, particularly: African Americans, Latinxs, Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, Native Americans and Alaskan Natives, people in non-urban areas, people with lower socio-economic statuses, and those with behavioral health conditions.
The accessibility of menthol cigarettes and other menthol-containing tobacco products results in disproportionate harm in all these populations. Studies show that LGBTQ+ people are more likely to try their first cigarette before age 13.2 Menthol is a key initiating product for LGBTQ+ people and makes cessation harder.3. In short, menthol makes it easier for LGBTQ+ and communities of color to start smoking and harder for us all to quit. To help end tobacco disparities and minimize tobacco-related harm, access to menthol products must end.
We urge the FDA to move forward with ending the sale, production, and distribution of menthol-flavored tobacco products. We applaud the FDA for ensuring this policy targets the producers and distributors only and in no way sets up any user penalties. We join the many organizations and tobacco control leaders across the country that have led efforts to bring about this policy. We have all taken up this charge because of the direct impacts that menthol has had on our communities; to ignore our calls for this policy would represent a failure to protect the health of both communities of color and the overlapping LGBTQ+ communities.
1. Menthol and Cigarettes. CDC. Retrieved June 9, 2022 from https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/disparities/lgbt/index.htm
2. Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance – United States, 2017. CDC. Retrieved June 9, 2022 from https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/67/ss/ss6708a1.htm
3. Ollie Ganz and Cristine Delnevo. “Cigarette Smoking and the Role of Menthol in Tobacco Use Inequalities for Sexual Minorities”, Nicotine Tobacco Research (October 2021): 23.
Signers list:
Lead Signers:
Center for Black Equity
Center for Black Health & Equity
National Black Justice Coalition
National LGBT Cancer Network
Organization Signers:
Action on Smoking and Health
Advocates for Youth
African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council
AIDS Foundation Chicago
Alameda County Tobacco Control Coalition
AllianceQ – Disciples LGBTQ+ Alliance
American Trans Resource Hub
Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights
APNH: A Place to Nourish your Health, Inc.
Asian Pacific Partners for Empowerment, Advocacy, and Leadership (APPEAL)
Association for Nonsmokers-MN
Borderland Rainbow Center
Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center
Cal Voices
Callen-Lorde Community Health Center
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
CARES of Southwest Michigan
Cascade AIDS Project & Prism Health
Center for Culture, Sexuality, and Spirituality LLC
Center for LGBTQ Economic Advancement & Research (CLEAR)
CenterLink: The Community of LGBT Centers
Center on Halsted
Chase Brexton
City of Milwaukee Tobacco-Free Alliance
Compass LGBTQ Community Center
DAP Health
DBGM, Inc.
Deaf Queer Resource Center
Equality California
Erie Gay News
Fair Wisconsin
Fenway Health
Florida Social Justice Project
FUNDACION LATINOAMERICANA DE ACCION SOCIAL, INC. (FLAS)
Garden State Equality
Gay City: Seattle’s LGBTQ+ Center
Gay Elder Circle
GenderNexus
Georgia Equality
GLAAD
GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ Equality
Global Healthy Living Foundation
Grand Rapids Pride Center
Guilford Green Foundation & LGBTQ Center
H.E.A.R.T. Coalition
Howard Brown Health
Hudson Pride Center
Imperial Valley LGBT Resource Center
Lancaster LGBTQ+ Coalition
LBGT PA caucus
LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland
Lincoln Park Children and Families Collaborative
Mashup!
Mass. Trans Political Coalition
Mazzoni Center
National Native Network
New Haven Pride Center
NWPA Pride Alliance
One In Long Beach, Inc. dba
The LGBTQ Center Long Beach
OutNebraska
Pacific Pride Foundation
Parents Against Vaping e-cigarettes
Paso del Norte Tobacco Control Network
Pennsylvania Equality Project
Persad Center
PFLAG National
Philanthrofund Foundation
Preventing Tobacco Addiction
Foundation/Tobacco 21
Pride Center San Antonio, Inc
PROCEED INC.
Public Health Law Center
Rainbow Health Minnesota
Rainbow Rose Center
Resource Center
Sacramento LGBT Community Center
SAVE Safeguarding American Values for Everyone
Seacoast Outright
Silver State Equality
SisTers PGH
State Senator Chris Larson
Still Bisexual
Strategies for High Impact (S4HI)
The California LGBTQ Health and Human Services Network
The Center on Colfax
The Frederick Center
The LGBT Center of Greater Reading
The LGBTQ Community Center of Southern Nevada
The Pride Center at Equality Park
The Spahr Center
Transcend Charlotte
Transgender Education Network of Texas (TENT)
Transhealth Northampton
Truth Initiative
Utah Pride Center
Waves Ahead Corp Puerto Rico
Whitman-Walker Institute
William Way LGBT Community Center
Wisconsin African American Tobacco Prevention Network
Woodhull Freedom Foundation
