It is great news for those who enjoy the freedom to use e-cigarettes that former President Donald J. Trump will be back in the White House. The Biden Administration seemed oblivious to vaping and allowed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to deny hundreds of millions of applications for safer alternatives to smoking. The hope is that new leadership at the FDA will follow the science and approve more products that wean smokers of tobacco cigarettes.
The argument to restrict flavored vaping products is that young people are attracted to those products, yet the federal government recently put out a report that found youth vaping is at its lowest level in a decade. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) concluded on September 5, 2024, “half a million fewer U.S. youth reported current use of e-cigarettes in 2024 compared to 2023.” They base these encouraging new figures from new data from the National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) produced by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We should be celebrating the fact that America’s youth are staying away from both cigarettes and vaping products.
Yet, the government still uses the myth of a youth vaping epidemic to ban flavored vaping products that are far less harmful than combustible cigarettes. But they aren’t consistent. Consider the explosion of flavored alcohol products regularly consumed by adults and illegally by kids. Despite this unfortunate reality, the federal government isn’t restricting adult access to those products “to save the children”. Also, many food products are unhealthy for kids, yet we don’t see restrictions on fast food or candy in the name of protecting kids. There are better ways to restrict access by young people to flavored vaping products, tobacco cigarettes and alcohol. It makes no sense to target flavored vaping for special treatment.
Access has been limited in the name of protecting kids in many states and by the FDA. Despite having a statewide ban already in place, policymakers in New York City are struggling to eliminate the marketplace. Bans and de facto bans don’t work. Jacob Grier wrote for Reason on March 9, 2023, “in November 2019, Massachusetts became the first state in the U.S. to ban the sale of all flavored tobacco and nicotine products, including flavored electronic cigarettes and menthol cigarettes” and they follow four states that have banned some products. The bans are popular among nanny state politicians, yet “the latest data from Massachusetts highlight the ban’s unintended consequences.” These consequences include “thriving illicit markets, challenges for law enforcement, and prosecution of sellers.” A federal ban or restriction of access will lead to the same results. Even more alarming – the ban didn’t lead to greater decreases in youth use, as compared to neighboring states.
The federal position can be characterized as a ‘de facto’ ban. There have been millions of applications submitted for the approval of new products. Those applications have been rejected. It is an abuse of power when the federal government, which possesses the power to allow a product in the stream of commerce, uses that power to deny virtually all applications. That is an abuse of power and represents a back door ban. As we have seen in Massachusetts, bans don’t work.
The FDA’s actions have been so extreme it landed them in federal court. Reuters reported “in a series of decisions beginning in 2021, the agency has rejected more than a million applications, including Triton’s and Vapetasia’s, finding no studies show the products have any benefit for adult smokers. As of November, the FDA had approved only 34 e-cigarette products, all but four, which are tobacco flavored.” Approving only a handful of cases while denying millions of applications is classic federal agency overreach that needs to stop.
The consequences of this sort of agency overreach are grim. Today, flavored vapes that might have helped adults quit traditional combustible cigarettes are off the market only because they are flavored. Meanwhile, millions will continue to smoke because of the government limiting choice. Not many adults will resort to a black market to get these products, but some may and they will be putting themselves in danger while they are trying to wean themselves off cigarettes.
One great irony is that the FDA is serving the interests of large tobacco companies by denying adults access to tobacco cessation products like flavored e-cigarettes. When you limit choice, there is a higher likelihood that tobacco products end up being the choice of those who have limited choices thanks to a federal ban on certain vaping products. In the name of saving kids from vaping, the federal government is limiting these products for adults in a way that will make them less healthy. It should be noted that the 34 approved e-cigarettes come from only three manufacturers – all of which continue to sell lethal combustible cigarettes.
A ban on flavored vaping is inconsistent with the freedom that Donald J. Trump ran to protect. One can hope that the FDA changes course and adopts a new policy that helps adults have access to the flavored vaping products of their choice. That’s one way he can make America healthy again!