US
Conservative and libertarian groups are demanding the Trump administration “pump the brakes” on the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) crackdown on e-cigarettes, arguing the anti-vaping efforts will hurt “an innovative industry that is helping American smokers quit.”
In a letter sent to the White House early February, the groups, which included Americans for Tax Reform, ALEC Action, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and the Goldwater Institute criticized the FDA — and specifically its commissioner, Dr. Scott Gottlieb — for waging an “aggressive regulatory assault” on e-cigarettes.
While the groups acknowledged concern about a sharp increase in youth use of such products, they said Gottlieb’s reaction has amounted to “regulatory panic and significant government overreach” and that FDA’s plans to curb youth vaping would hurt adults and should be subjected to cost-benefit analyses. “Private sector initiative and sound public policy should not be held hostage by prohibitionist impulses,” they said in the letter. A week before this letter was sent to the White House, in remarks on the Senate floor, Sen. Richard Burr (R.-NC), slammed a plan by Gottlieb to ban menthol cigarettes, saying it would reduce adults’ consumer choices and state and local revenue.