FDA Opens $6 Billion Flavored Vape Market After Trump Lobbying

9 articles · Updated · The New York Times · May 13

Friday’s FDA guidance could clear the way for major tobacco companies to sell flavored e-cigarettes, giving them a shot at a larger share of the roughly $6 billion U.S. vape market.
The shift came less than a week after tobacco executives and lobbyists pressed President Donald Trump at his Florida golf club, prompting him to call FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mehmet Oz to complain about vape regulation.
HHS staff then drafted the new plan outside the FDA’s normal rule-making process, even as Makary kept arguing against approving flavored vapes and support for his position eroded.
Tuesday, Makary resigned, telling associates he could not stay atop an agency that would back the policy, underscoring how sharply the decision split health officials.
The move hands tobacco companies a potentially lucrative opening against illegal Chinese competitors and signals direct White House influence over a contentious public-health and regulatory fight.

With new flavored vapes approved, will the FDA's gamble reduce smoking deaths or create a new youth crisis?

The FDA bypassed its own rules for vapes. What other consumer products could be fast-tracked next?

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