June 28 (Reuters) - The Biden administration asked a

federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit by anti-smoking groups

demanding that it end nearly a year of delay and ban menthol

cigarettes, which are used disproportionately by Blacks and

younger people.

In a Thursday night court filing, the Food and Drug

Administration said the delay was not unreasonable because it

had yet to determine that a ban was "appropriate for the

protection of the public health."

The FDA also said the plaintiffs had no direct stake in a

ban, having alleged at most "a setback to their abstract social

interests," and therefore had no standing to sue.

It cited the U.S. Supreme Court's June 13 rejection of a bid

by anti-abortion groups and doctors to restrict access to a

widely used abortion pill.

The lawsuit was filed on April 2 in the Oakland, California

federal court by the American Medical Association, the African

American Tobacco Control Leadership Council, Action on Smoking

and Health and the National Medical Association.

In an email, their lawyer Christopher Leung expressed

confidence the court would reject the FDA's "baseless" dismissal

motion, saying it diverted attention from the agency's "abject

failure to protect the public health."

Found naturally in peppermint and similar plants,

menthol is the only cigarette flavor still allowed under a 2009

law that gave the FDA authority to regulate tobacco.

Government health officials had hoped to ban the flavor last

August but have pushed back the date multiple times.

The latest delay was on April 26, when Health and Human

Services Secretary Xavier Becerra suggested the matter could

drag past November's election by saying talks will take

"significantly more time."

Health and Human Services is the FDA's parent agency.

A ban would likely cost billions of dollars in annual

revenue for cigarette companies such as Altria ( MO ) and

British American Tobacco ( BTI ).

It could also impede Black voters' support for President Joe

Biden as the Democrat seeks reelection.

About 81% of Black adults who smoke cigarettes use menthol

varieties, compared with just 34% of white adults, according to

the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Among cigarette smokers aged 18 to 25, 53% used menthol

cigarettes, compared with 42% of smokers over 35, the CDC said.

The FDA has said eliminating menthol could prevent 324,000

to 654,000 smoking deaths in the United States over 40 years.

The case is African American Tobacco Control Leadership

Council et al v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services et

al, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No.

24-01992.