Trump Opens Door to Vaping Debate as He Waffles on Policy
Trump Opens Door to Vaping Debate as He Waffles on Policy
(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump has wavered for months in private over what to do about vaping. On Friday, he put his ambivalence on public display.
The president summoned public health groups, e-cigarette companies and industry associations to the White House to hash out what to do in the face of vaping-related illnesses and deaths among teenagers.
Then he invited the press to watch them spar.
Seated at the center, Trump held court as debate and arguments went on for almost an hour in front of cameras. The president said he wanted a solution “where everybody’s happy.” Instead, the spectacle illustrated that such a result is elusive if not impossible, leaving the president with a politically tough choice he’s been reluctant to make.
Anything short of a ban on nearly all flavors will enrage medical and family groups who warn of an epidemic of teen addiction. On the other hand, conservative and business groups say any wide ban would shutter stores, cost jobs and drive adults to smoke instead.
“The health activist groups have made clear that the only thing they will accept, the only policy they will accept, is prohibition of flavors,” said Gregory Conley, president of the American Vaping Association. But Trump will pay a price for going that route, he added. “He’s going to gain about 15 votes from people in New York and California if he bans e-cigarette flavors, and he’s going to lose many, many more.”
During a September event in the Oval Office, Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar announced they’d ban all flavors but tobacco, a significant decision that health groups cheered. But Trump watered down his pledge soon after, and on Friday called the September event only a “suggestion.”
Battle lines emerged quickly at the White House meeting on Friday: The industry and conservative groups warned him that flavored vaping is a key way to wean adults off traditional smoking, and that a full flavor ban was a bad idea. Health advocates in the room, however, were unified that Trump should circle back to his September promise.
“The president had, in the room, every major physician group and every major health group, and to a person, and an organization, their message was consistent. You have to ban flavors if you’re going to reduce the youth e-cigarette epidemic,” said Matthew Myers, president of Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, who sat directly across from the president. “He asked a lot of questions and we’re just going to have to wait and see where it comes out.”
Trump’s own staff consistently expressed support for the views of health professionals, while Republican Senator Mitt Romney of Utah -- the lone federal lawmaker at the meeting -- had sharp exchanges with industry representatives.
“We’ve got almost 6 million kids addicted to nicotine. And they’re getting addicted to nicotine because of flavors,” Romney said. “Sixty-six percent of the kids addicted to these products are saying they didn’t even know it had nicotine in it. They thought it was just a candy-type product.”
“Utah is a Mormon state, he added. “Half the kids in high school are vaping.”
Trump referred to a plan to raise the minimum age for vaping to 21.
Romney, a frequent Trump critic, has taken a prominent role in the Senate to curtail youth tobacco use. He’s a co-sponsor of bipartisan legislation that would prohibit the sale of tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, to anyone under the age of 21.
During a hearing on Wednesday, he pressed Stephen Hahn, Trump’s nominee for Food and Drug Administration commissioner, to back a flavor ban regardless of whether the White House is on board.
At the Friday meeting, the White House fueled the debate by seating opponents next to one another. Myers, for instance, sat next to, K C Crosthwaite, the chief executive officer of vaping giant Juul Labs Inc.
Trump’s remarks kept revisiting the same themes during the heated discussion -- raising the minimum age to 21; concern about fueling a counterfeit market if he bans flavors; and an assurance that his focus is on youngsters.
“What about flavoring, over 21?” Trump asked, floating the notion of allowing the sale of flavors to adults. “There’s no way to do it,” Myers argued. Industry advocates argued that he could.
Michael R. Bloomberg has campaigned and given money in support of a ban on flavored e-cigarettes and tobacco. He is the majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News, and has taken steps to enter the Democratic presidential race.
Worst of all for Trump is that the brouhaha is all over what will essentially be an interim solution. The next milestone comes next May when producers would need to submit applications to the FDA for vaping products. Any decision is essentially a stopgap until another round of talks next year on enforcement and rules.
Tony Abboud, executive director of the Vapor Technology Association, said sweeping flavor restrictions would kill more than 150,000 jobs nationally. Abboud sparred with Romney and others during the meeting.
“There’s a lot of passion about the issue on both sides because we know this is important and it’s got to get resolved” Abboud said, adding that he remains hopeful that the parties can further Friday’s dialogue to resolve a complex problem.
“It’s impossible to do what they want and address the youth problem,” Myers said. “The reality is if it’s a product that a kid wants, they will find a way to get it.”
Once the cameras had departed from the Oval Office, Trump tried to break the tension by joking that he ought to fire Azar.
He wasn’t serious, six people familiar with the matter agreed. But the joke reflected frustration within the White House toward a conservative group opposed to a ban on flavored vaping products, Americans for Tax Reform, that has publicly advocated for Azar to be replaced.
After making the remark, Trump playfully elbowed the heath secretary.
--With assistance from Laura Litvan.
To contact the reporters on this story: Josh Wingrove in Washington at jwingrove4@bloomberg.net;Gerald Porter Jr. in New York at gporter30@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Joshua Gallu, John Harney
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