When the Politics of Science Costs Lives

[Emphasis ours]

In the U.S. today, the benefits of e-cigarettes to those who smoke cigarettes have been dismissed and marginalized by public health officials.

Most Americans have a highly negative view of vaping – until they learn more. Simple facts about the harm-reduction and smoking-cessation benefits of vaping products – particularly flavored vapes, which are two to three times more effective at helping adults quit smoking – shifts sentiment significantly.

The latest data show youth vaping rates in the U.S. have decreased by 50% from 2019 to 2021,  returning to levels not seen since 2014 – that is, pre-Juul. And contrary to claims made by the FDA and activist groups, “flavors” were not even in the top five reasons why youth say they choose to vape, according to the CDC National Youth Tobacco Survey. According to the CDC, high school vaping specifically has decreased by 50%, while middle school vaping has decreased 75%.

With many adults looking to reduce or cease cigarette smoking, why is the FDA so hellbent on blocking greater access to e-cigarettes? In the past six months alone, the FDA has created an “import red list,” enlisting U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to intercept overseas shipments of vaping products, issued a “retail blitz,” and sent chilling warning letters to retailers and distributors threatening criminal and civil penalties. This is the same depleted and demoralized CBP trying to keep pace with the open borders policy that Biden and “Border Czar” Kamala Harris have forced on the nation. Instead of scaring consumers and daring small businesses, the FDA should be advancing tools that could help save millions of lives and billions in health care costs over time.

The latest polling data show that Americans are concerned about this behavior by taxpayer-funded government agencies, which they see as political. They have a point. Despite the FDA’s stated goal of getting Americans off traditional tobacco products, a staggering 99% of premarket tobacco product applications, or PMTAs, for e-cigarettes sent to the FDA have been denied.

Meanwhile, the FDA has approved the sale of 900 new cigarettes over the last several years. This illustrates plainly the political nature of the regulatory process, and that no one is more addicted to tobacco than the federal government.

The same polling data indicate that the FDA has been largely successful in its apparent crusade to delegitimize e-cigarettes and confuse the American public about alternatives like vaping.

Undeterred, the anti-vaping establishment has created its latest rhetorically powerful but factually unsubstantiated boogeyman: disposable vaping products, manufactured overseas, that allegedly come pre-laced with fentanyl.

Unbiased analysts say there is not one single documented instance of a disposable vape that was purchased off a store shelf with fentanyl already in it. Sadly, the fentanyl is already here, pouring in from the southern border, and is the No. 1 killer of 18- to 45-year-olds in the U.S.

And while claiming to prioritize “improving equitable health outcomes” for Black Americans and members of the LGBTQIA+ community, whom studies have shown smoke and are impacted by cigarettes at disproportionately higher rates, the Biden administration has instead focused its “harm-reduction” efforts on needle-exchange programs for heroin. Somehow vaping is a bridge too far.

That may be why the Center for Black Equity recently called on the FDA and the Center for Tobacco Products to grant broad approval for a full range of nicotine e-cigarettes. The Center for Black Equity along with Dr. Robert J. Shapiro released a study showing that switching from smoking cigarettes to vaping saved 113,300 people from premature death over a twelve-year period. They also conclude that the shift to vaping/e-cigarettes preserved $137 billion in U.S. GDP and $39 billion in healthcare cost savings, reduced the number of U.S. smokers by over 6 million people between 2010 and 2022, and poses fewer health risks due to the absence of toxic and carcinogenic substances.

Notably, 15 past presidents of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco, criticized U.S. public health agencies for their “singular focus” on youth vaping and flavors – which is already illegal - without considering the scientific benefits flavored vaping products can have on adult cigarette smokers who wish to quit. 

It is a victory that youth vaping rates are at historic lows. Hopefully, that trend continues. For that to happen, the FDA should stop its relentless attack on vaping. They could take their own COVID-19-era advice to “follow the science,” demonstrate an imperviousness to politics, and increase access to proven smoking cessation tools.

Kellyanne Conway is former Sr. Counselor to President Donald J. Trump.

https://www.realclearpolicy.com/articles/2023/12/01/when_the_politics_of_science_costs_lives_996160.html