The White House on Sept. 13 announced a $240 million investment to fight cancer, along with a slew of new health resources to further the administration’s “Cancer Moonshot” initiative.

The announcements from the Biden Cancer Moonshot include:

• New investments to reduce the impact of menthol and other flavored commercial tobacco products in communities that experience health disparities
• A new plan to decrease the impact of smoking on Americans’ health by expanding efforts to prevent smoking and to support everyone who wants to quit. To ensure Americans who want to quit have the support they need, the Department of Health and Human Services will finalize its Framework to Support and Accelerate Smoking Cessation this year.
• New smoking cessation resources for underserved communities, including American Indian, Alaska Native and Black communities, to reduce cancer health disparities.
• A new pilot program to increase veteran engagement in tobacco use treatment. The Department of Veterans Affairs, in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute, will conduct a clinical demonstration project to assess how to more effectively engage veterans in tobacco-use treatment programs.
• New resources and actions to reduce exposures to environmental carcinogens. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is launching gov/cancer, with new information and prominently featured resources from EPA and other federal agencies about secondhand smoke, smoking cessation and other cancer-related topics.

Tobacco harm reduction activist have been urging Biden administration to embrace less harmful alternatives in its Cancer Moonshot initiative. “If President Biden is serious about beating cancer, then embracing tobacco harm reduction is not just an option, it’s a necessity,” said Michael Landl, director of the World Vapers Alliance (WVA), in a statement.

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