Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Trump Meeting With Vaping Industry, Medical Professionals As He Nears Decision On E-Cigarette Ban
Reuters: Trump To Meet With Vaping Industry As He Mulls Tighter Regulation
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he will be meeting with vaping industry representatives as his administration considers tightening e-cigarette regulations amid a nationwide outbreak of vaping-related injuries and deaths. "Will be meeting with representatives of the Vaping industry, together with medical professionals and individual state representatives, to come up with an acceptable solution to the Vaping and E-cigarette dilemma. Children’s health & safety, together with jobs, will be a focus!" he wrote on Twitter. (11/11)
The Wall Street Journal: Trump To Meet With Vaping Industry Representatives As Policy Nears On E-Cigarettes
“Will be meeting with representatives of the Vaping industry, together with medical professionals and individual state representatives, to come up with an acceptable solution to the Vaping and E-cigarette dilemma,” Mr. Trump wrote in a tweet Monday morning. “Children’s health & safety, together with jobs, will be a focus!” He didn’t say when the meeting would happen, but the policy has been delayed under heavy lobbying. On Friday, Mr. Trump said he supported raising the minimum purchase age for e-cigarettes nationwide to 21 years old from 18. (Burton and Leary, 11/11)
Bloomberg: Will Trump Ban Vaping? President To Meet Representitives
A recent surge in underage use of e-cigarettes prompted Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar to say in September that the administration would put tighter restrictions on flavored nicotine vaping products. At the time, Azar suggested that most flavors except tobacco could be removed from the market pending review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Since then, public-health advocates and vaping-related businesses have been awaiting guidance on the new curbs. Last week, planned meetings between White House policy officials and industry groups were canceled, a development some saw as a sign that restrictions were imminent. (Porter and Wingrove, 11/11)
The Hill: Trump To Meet With Vaping Industry As He Considers Flavors Ban
But the president has faced considerable backlash from the vaping industry and advocates, who argue a ban would eliminate jobs and options for adults who use those products as an alternative to traditional cigarettes. They argue raising the tobacco purchasing age to 21 would be a better alternative. Trump said Friday the White House would release a "big paper" this week. "We're talking about the age. We're talking about the flavors," he said. (Hellmann, 11/11)
The Hill: Vaping Advocates Feel Confident Trump Will Turn From Flavor Ban
Vaping advocates feel optimistic that the Trump administration will back off its plan to ban the sale of all flavored e-cigarette products. President Trump and some of his top advisers have questioned in recent days whether the flavor ban it promised two months ago could have an adverse effect on the economy. They’ve also worried it could make it harder for adults who use the products to try to quit smoking. (Hellmann, 11/12)
Rolling Stone: Could The Vaping Industry Cost Donald Trump The Election?
On a frigid Saturday afternoon, the best-smelling place in America was Ellipse Park in Washington, D.C., where it was impossible to go one step in either direction without walking into a fragrant cloud of sweet-smelling vapor — though marketed to mimic everything from strawberries to cotton candy, it all came out smelling the same. Hundreds of members of the vaping community gathered to protest an impending vape flavors ban announced by President Donald Trump, taking hits off their elaborate hardware while clutching signs reading “Make America vape again,” or “Vape kills like Epstein killed himself.” The crowd frequently broke into chants of the catchphrase of the afternoon: “We vape, we vote.” (Dickson, 11/11)
The Associated Press: Vaping-Related Lung Transplant Performed At Detroit Hospital
Doctors at a Detroit hospital have performed what could be the first double lung transplant on a man whose lungs were damaged from vaping. No other details of the transplant were released Monday by Henry Ford Health System, which has scheduled a news conference Tuesday. The patient has asked his medical team to share photographs and an update to warn others about vaping. (Williams, 11/11)
USA Today: Vape-Injured Person Gets Double-Lung Transplant At Detroit Hospital
Doctors at Detroit's Henry Ford Hospital have performed a double-lung transplant on a person with a vaping-related lung injury. The hospital system announced Monday that it believes it is the first in the country to perform the surgery on someone who had irreparable lung damage from vaping. It plans to host a news conference Tuesday to offer more details. (Shamus, 11/11)
CNN: Double Lung Transplant Needed After Vaping
[The patient] has asked the hospital to let the public know about his injuries and to see pictures, to "warn others," according to the hospital, but has also asked for privacy, so he will not attend the press conference. (Christensen, 11/11)
CNBC: Juul’s Vaping Products Should Be Completely Pulled Off The Market, Says Ex-FDA Chief Gottlieb
Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said Monday that Juul Labs’ products should be removed from the market, citing two studies that showed the scope of teen use of its e-cigarettes and flavored pods. “It’s very clear that Juul can’t keep their products out of the hands of kids,” said Gottlieb, a physician, health advocate and Pfizer board member. He left the Food and Drug Administration in April. “What’s driving the youth use is primarily Juul.” (Bursztynsky, 11/11)
NBC News: E-Cigarettes Hurt Heart Health, Possibly More Than Regular Cigarettes
Smoking cigarettes has long been established as a major cause of heart disease deaths; now, there's growing evidence that electronic cigarettes may hurt the heart, too. In two separate studies that will presented at the upcoming meeting of the American Heart Association, e-cigarettes use was shown to impact cholesterol, as well as the body's ability to pump blood. In one study, researchers at the Boston University School of Medicine compared the cholesterol levels among four groups of adults: people who used e-cigarettes, people who smoked regular cigarettes, those who used both products, and nonsmokers. (Edwards, 11/11)
Kaiser Health News: Some Academics Quietly Take Side Jobs Helping Tobacco Companies In Court
In 1998, major tobacco companies reached a historic legal settlement with states that had sued them over the health care costs of smoking-related illnesses. But individual smokers have continued to sue, and to this day the tobacco industry remains tied up in hundreds of court fights with sickened smokers, or with family members who lost a loved one to cancer, heart disease or other smoking-related illness. These days, tobacco companies no longer try to claim that cigarettes aren’t harmful — in fact, in an ironic reversal, a favorite legal defense in current cases is the argument that nearly everyone was aware of the dangers, even back in the 1950s. (Farmer, 11/12)
