Yesterday, President Trump announced his intentions to unilaterally ban the sale of all non-tobacco-flavored vaping products in the United States. This move, which is being finalized by the Food and Drug Administration through regulatory guidance, is less about public safety and more about appeasing loud activists. National Taxpayers Union strongly encourages policymakers to avoid making decisions out of haste and to thoroughly examine the facts surrounding vaping and public health.
This statement is devastating news to the millions of traditional tobacco users who have transitioned to vape products and e-cigarettes as a less harmful substitute to cigarettes. The administration believes that young people are drawn to vapor products due to the many different flavors, despite evidence finding there is no such correlation. While alternative products are by no means completely risk free, they do appear to have less risk than smoking cigarettes and other traditional methods of nicotine delivery. Tobacco harm reduction is based on a reasonable premise that there are significant benefits ( for individual health, government health care programs, and the economy) to providing smokers with innovative alternative means of getting the nicotine they desire.
Perhaps most concerning, this action is proposed at a time when scientific literature is coalescing around the fact that vaping is significantly less harmful than traditional combustible cigarettes. A recent study conducted by the Public Health England indicates vaping can reduce the harm associated with smoking by as much as 95 percent and can be twice as effective as gum or patches to help users quit. It is growing clearer that vapor products are an effective bridge for smokers to transition to significantly less harmful alternatives. For years, government officials have taken steps to reduce the prevalence of tobacco usage, and the free market has produced a solution to address this serious problem. Support for policies that raise barriers for people to access safer alternatives, as the FDA proposes to do, will simply derail efforts to lower health care costs and reduce government spending.
Policymakers on Capitol Hill, in state capitals, or within the federal bureaucracy must take care not to overtax, overregulate, or ban a product that can aid in adult harm reduction and over the longer term help to stabilize costs in taxpayer-funded health programs. NTU has long fought for individual freedom and free market policies, and we know all too well that blanket prohibitions or schemes are seldom successful. They often lead consumers to turn to untaxed and unregulated black markets to access products.
While NTU does support the FDA’s goal to inform and protect the general public from products that may be harmful to their health, it is imperative that the FDA use sound data and metrics to make informed decisions - not merely press reports. The FDA should launch a full in-depth investigation into any health risks to fully gauge the effects of vapor products as it simultaneously works to reduce youth usage of the products. In the meantime, FDA should abandon plans for a complete ban of innovative tobacco harm reduction products.