How Joe Biden’s Administration Will Deal With Vaping

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Author: Andres RomanDecember 14, 2022

With every new presidency, there's a switch in attitudes and points of view. This administration's issues could be considered inconsequential to the next, especially with matters that don't affect the population at large, like health policy on vaping.

With the election of Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States, there could be some vaping policy changes. While we still don't know whether these changes will be positive or negative, it's worth examining the current administration's view of vaping and how a Biden administration would handle vaping policy in the future.

What has been the current administration’s impact on the vaping industry?

Trump has sent mixed signals since elected in office regarding his stance on vaping. While he might have supported vaping as a potential cessation tool, he also enacted the national federal ban on vaping that took away flavored pods and cartridges. He also appointed two heads of office that were anti-vaping.

Scott Gottlieb, for example, Former Food and Drug Commissioner, vehemently believed that vape manufacturing companies were targeting kids with their marketing and advertising efforts. This belief made the agency view vaping in a less favorable light and contributed to the so-called youth vaping epidemic. Another Trump Appointee was Surgeon General Jerome Adams, said that the issue needed immediate attention, similar to the war on drugs.

However, the most important act that sidelined the vaping industry was Trump’s trade war with China, the number one exporter of vaping devices and components. The tariffs raised on all the parts and pieces of vapes affected the vape manufacturers and firms that saw themselves involved in an already tight world economy. Which leaves us wondering, how will things be different with Joe Biden?

How will things be different with the new administration?

While we still don’t know how Joe Biden’s Administration will handle vaping reform, we should be wary of the Surgeon General Joe Biden has appointed. Vivek Murthy, who previously served as Surgeon General and that during his past term released a report titled “E-Cigarette Use Among Youth and Young Adults,” which damaged vaping’s reputation, could potentially advise the President to enact stricter vaping policies. However, the Senate has not confirmed him and that his primary concern when he is elected will probably be the Coronavirus and not vaping.

The most important job bound to transform vaping and vaping policy is FDA commissioner, and that position still hasn’t been decided by Mr. Biden. However, there are two potential candidates for the job, and both of them spell bad news for the vaping industry.

David Kessler

David Kessler is the most likely candidate to become commissioner of the FDA. Having served before as head of the FDA under George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton’s administrations, he is also co-chair of Biden’s COVID-19 Advisory Board.

David Kessler could spell bad news for the vaping industry because he has been fighting the tobacco industry since the 1990s, and whose aim could quickly turn toward vape goods. He is a strong advocate for keeping vaping products behind pharmacy counters and strongly approves of reducing cigarettes' nicotine content.

Josh Sharfstein

Another possible candidate for FDA commissioner is Josh Sharfstein. Sharfstein, who was previously appointed by Obama as the FDA principal deputy commissioner, was responsible for seizing e-cigarettes shipments from China back in 2009. Although he failed to treat vaping goods as drug and drug devices, he remained a vocal advocate against vaping and defended the FDA’s actions.

So, which of these two would make the better FDA commissioner?

The truth is neither of these two candidates would be beneficial for the vaping industry since they both seem to have personal vendettas against vaping. Since the position of FDA Commissioner has to be confirmed by the Senate, there is still hope that the Republican majority will not confirm any of Joe Biden’s FDA candidates. There’s also the issue that the FDA Commissioner will most likely be picked on his ability to deal with the current health crisis, which is COVID-19, and not a minor issue like the future of vaping.

What are Joe Biden’s views on vaping?

If it comes down to Joe Biden’s opinion of vaping, what can we expect? Joe Biden has gone on record saying that he “chooses” science over fiction, and if the science is there that vaping and vaping goods are affecting users, he will support stricter vaping regulations. However, the same could be said for science that supports vaping as a harm reduction tool that helps people quit cigarettes and move to a less dangerous form of nicotine use.

Conclusion

While we are close to January 2021, when Joe Biden will take up residency at the White House, we are still far from any more federal health policy on vaping. For now, all vapers can do is continue writing to their representatives, preventing flavor bans in their states, and hope state and local governments have more pressing issues than getting rid of devices enhancing the lives of ex-cigarette smokers.