Trump moves to ban vaping flavors
FDA working out details amid jump in e-cigarette use
WASHINGTON — Trump administration officials, alarmed by new data showing a huge jump in e-cigarette use by young people, said they are moving to ban most flavored e-cigarettes, a major development that could result in sweeping changes in the sprawling e-cigarette market.
In an Oval Office meeting Wednesday that included first lady Melania Trump, Health and Human Services Alex Azar and acting Food and Drug Commissioner Norman “Ned” Sharpless, President Donald Trump said, “We can’t allow people to get sick. And we can’t have our kids be so affected.”
He added that the first lady, who Tuesday tweeted a warning about vaping, feels “very, very strongly” about the issue because of their 13-year-old son, Barron.
Azar said the administration intends to “clear the market” of flavored e-cigarettes to reverse a worsening vaping epidemic. He said preliminary data from the 2019 National Youth Tobacco Survey showed a continued, troubling rise in youth e-cigarette use. The data showed more than than a quarter of high school students have used ecigarettes in the past 30 days — up from a little over a fifth in 2018. The overwhelming majority of students said they used fruity or menthol or mint flavors.
The administration’s move comes as health officials across the country investigate more than 450 cases, including six deaths, of lung disease linked to vaping. Many patients have reported using cannabis-related products, but authorities have not ruled out any specific type of vaping. With the picture still murky, vaping critics have seized the moment to press for tougher regulation of conventional ecigarettes, which come in sweet and fruity flavors that have been embraced by many young people.
Azar said the Food and Drug Administration is working to finalize a plan on flavored ecigarettes in the next several weeks that would likely take effect a month after that. The policy, he said, would require the removal from the market of most flavored-e-cigarettes, including mint and menthol. The flavored products would not be allowed back on the market until — and if — they receive specific approval from the FDA.
The policy being developed wouldn’t affect tobacco-flavored e-cigarettes, whose manufacturers would have until next May to file for approval. People on both sides of the issue said that the industry might sue the FDA to try to block the policy.
“Vaping targets kids, and these flavors — mint, menthol, gummy bear, Unicorn Milk, lung candy — have been essential to the industry luring children into this new addiction,” said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who recently told Sharpless to ban flavors or resign as commissioner. “Finally, the FDA is doing its job.”
Matt Myers, president of the anti-tobacco group Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said the plan is a “long way from the finish line,” but added, “if, in fact, they pull flavored e-cigarettes from the market, it is an extraordinary step in the face of a real crisis.”
He said that flavored e-cigarettes are fueling an epidemic of youth e-cigarette use “which apparently has gotten dramatically worse over the last year.”
A ban on flavors would be a huge blow to companies such as San Francisco-based Juul, which has grown into a multibillion-dollar business by selling mint, fruit and dessert flavorednicotine products.
Juul and other manufacturers argue that their products are intended to help adult smokers wean themselves off traditional paper-and-tobacco cigarettes. But there is little evidence that e-cigarettes are effective for helping smokers quit.
A 2009 law banned all flavors from traditional cigarettes except menthol. But that law did not apply to e-cigarettes, which were then a tiny segment of the tobacco market.
The Vapor Technology Administration, an industry group, said it would be a “public health travesty” to ban flavored ecigarettes. Such “government overreach,” the group said, will result in the closure of thousands of small vape shops and force many Americans “to switch back to deadly cigarettes.”
Gregory Conley, president of the American Vaping Association, a consumer group, warned, “in the history of the United States, prohibition has never worked.”
The administration move comes as states, communities and members of Congress called for tougher e-cigarette regulation.
E-cigarette products do not have FDA approval; rather, they are marketed under an FDA called “enforcement discretion.”
Scott Gottlieb, who stepped down as FDA commissioner in April, said in a tweet that Juul bore particular responsibility for forcing the administration’s action.
“Unfortunately, the entire category of e-cigs was put at risk largely as a result of the youth abuse of mostly one manufacturer’s products,” Gottlieb said.
Wednesday’s announcement came despite months of lobbying by Juul, which spent $1.9 million in the first half of the year to try and sway the White House, Congress and the FDA.
Several former White House officials, including communications aide Josh Raffel, and Johnny DeStefano, who served as counselor to Trump, have gone on to work for Juul.
Federal law prohibits e-cigarette and other tobacco sales to those under 18. But last year, 1 in 5 high school students reported vaping in the past month, according to government survey figures.
Associated Press contributed.