Health Groups Take FDA To Court
A staggering move that sees groups claiming to value health attempting to move a ban on a healthier vaping option.
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by Dave Cross
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Originally, vape companies needed to submit product applications by this August for lines that went on sale after February 2007. The new timeline means that vape companies have until August 2022.
The coalition of chaos behind the lawsuit consists of:
- Several chapters of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
- The American Cancer Society
- The American Heart Association
- The American Lung Association
- The Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids (CTFK)
- The Truth Initiative
- Doctors Brasch, Fishman, Goldstein, Hirsch and Myles
The groups say: “[We] believe that the FDA’s August 2017 decision to exempt e-cigarettes and cigars from agency review for years to come is unlawful and harms public health.”
They go on to make a wholly unsubstantiated and laughable proposition: “The FDA’s decision to delay product reviews leaves young people more vulnerable to kid-friendly e-cigarettes … that may lead to a lifetime of tobacco addiction.”
The group clings to baseless slurs, statements without facts, and discredited academic papers. It refers to the 2016 Surgeon General’s report that was widely lambasted; yet make no mention of the reports by the Royal College of Physicians, Public Health England or the Cochrane Review.
The Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids’ press office was approached for comment but declined to respond. The organisation failed to answer our four questions:
- Is it the position of CTFK that the independent vape sector is targeting children with sweet-flavoured products and bright packaging?
- Does CTFK contend that children are being marketed at, and the marketing is working, despite a fall in the use of genuine tobacco products?
- Does CTFK accept or reject the argument that ex-smokers appreciate sweet flavoured vape products after they have transitioned away from tobacco products?
- Finally, does CTFK accept the collective position taken by the Royal College of Physicians, Public Health England and the Cochrane Review that vaping is “at least 95% safer than smoking”?
Rather than accept that vaping offers smokers a safer route to use nicotine, the group sticks to a mantra that “there is substantial evidence that e-cigarette use increases risk of ever using combustible tobacco cigarettes among youth and young adults” – an outright lie.
The FDA has also declined to comment on the legal action, but FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb has made a succession of tweets:
- “FDA shares the belief that tobacco products, including e-cigs, should never be marketed to, sold to, or used by kids and the agency will be taking new steps soon to help keep kids from using tobacco products.”
- “FDA takes use of e-cigs by youth very seriously. We’ll continue to enforce laws, including those aimed at preventing inappropriate targeting of kids and prohibiting retailers from selling tobacco products, including e-cigs, to minors; and will take new action to protect kids.”
- “Part of FDA’s policy recognizes nicotine exists on a continuum of risk; including in pharmaceutical products sold over the counter. In our framework, we’re advancing rules laying out a path for pre-market review of nicotine products that could pose less risk than cigarettes.”
The lawsuit coalition has demonstrated that they care as much for the lives of current smokers as they do the truth. This amoral action ought to be enough to remove them from any further involvement in the harm reduction debate. The lawsuit conflates vaping with smoking and erroneously claims that vaping leads to cigarette use despite enduring declining smoking rates in both teens and adults.
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
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