Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Different Takes: Public Health Concerns Outweigh Reluctance To Regulate Vaping Products; States Need To Step Up Now That Trump Has Backed Down On E-Cig Ban
The Washington Post: This Is What The Trump Administration Should Do On Vaping
When regulations are contemplated to address an epidemic of teenagers using e-cigarettes, vaping advocates complain loudly. The restrictions will obstruct adult access to these products, they say, foreclosing the opportunity for smokers to use the devices to quit cigarettes. Another complaint: Regulatory action to ban flavored e-cigs, which appeal to children, could end up forcing the shutdown of small vape stores that cater to adults. The Post reported Sunday that the opposition has succeeded in stalling a Trump administration plan to implement a universal ban on flavored e-cigs as a way to stem the youth epidemic. If the concern is the impact on vape stores, as The Post reported, there are ways to address that while still taking tough steps to reduce kids’ access to e-cigs and reduce the products’ appeal to them. (Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, 11/20)
The New York Times: The Cowardice Behind Trump’s Vaping-Ban Retreat
Is there any limit to the Trump administration’s willingness to endanger public health and safety for political purposes? First, it weakened environmental protection standards, despite clear evidence that the air we breathe is irreparably harming us and our children. Then it formally left the Paris Agreement on climate change, despite its being the only available option to help address our worsening air. Now the president has walked back his promise to regulate the vaping industry and ban most flavored e-cigarettes, even as they render an entire generation more vulnerable to nicotine addiction — not to mention life-altering severe lung injury. (Vin Gupta, 11/19)
Boston Globe: Trump Vape Ban Goes Up In Smoke
When it comes to the looming national health crisis posed by youth vaping, it looks like it will be every state for itself for the foreseeable future. President Trump’s ban on flavored vaping products has, like a lot of his other promises, just gone up in smoke. For Massachusetts, that means we need a heavy lift this week on Beacon Hill, where lawmakers will need to get their flavored tobacco ban and e-cigarette regulatory framework to Governor Charlie Baker before his temporary vaping ban expires Dec. 24. (11/20)
Los Angeles Times: Trump Cravenly Backtracks On Vaping. Surprise, Surprise
Faced with a troubling outbreak of a mysterious vaping-related illness and the skyrocketing use of electronic cigarettes among teens, President Trump announced in September that the Food and Drug Administration would pull flavored electronic-cigarettes from the market, possibly within weeks. “People are dying,” the president said during a televised news conference with the heads of the FDA and the Department of Health and Human Services. He promised quick action, and he was right to do so. (11/20)
