The Washington Post reported in its post published on Sunday evening that Trump is yet to take any actions concerning flavored vaping products. It said this may be due to Trump’s present concern over job losses and potential lost votes in 2020 battleground.
The story was a big one throughout Washington. That is not because of concern over lost harm reduction opportunities for adults or because of vaping kids, but because it is yet another area Trump has refused to fulfill his previous commitments. The pundits said Trump has again backed down just like he did with background check on guns and also with immigration.
But looking at things, that wasn’t exactly what happened. It was majorly the relentless efforts of vapers and business owners that changed the course of the FDA flavor ban. The Post story, as well as other stories that have been written concerning this, are clear evidence that two months of phone calls, VTA television commercials, emails, vaping rallies, and Twitter posts were what made the real difference. And of course, with some heavy lifting of Paul Blair of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR).
Now, we are happy that our efforts are being noticed by the president, including the Washington rally and other protests at Trump campaign events and now being reported in print – for the first time. It’s indeed exciting news for all vapers.
Contrary to what some vapers believe, the president hasn’t backed down on the flavor ban. As far as we all know, Trump is actually yet to make a concrete decision concerning this, and he still surrounds himself with a group of trusted and powerful advisers, including his daughter Ivanka, wife Melania, Health and Human Services Sec. Alex Azar, and Senior Counselor Kellyanne Conway telling him vape flavors. As a matter of fact, even Trump decides to lift the ban, that decision will obviously be faced by fierce resistance from powerful tobacco control and medical lobbying organizations which may hence make the matter head to something even worse.
Vaping is now daily on front-page for different reasons – from the “epidemic of youth vaping” to the outbreak of lung injuriesthat sprang up as a result of vaping black market THC oil cartridges, and because of this high visibility, there is also an intense pressure to make sure all perceived problems are solved. And these two major issues still remain confusing for both politicians and the news media, as well as even the public health agencies like the CDC. It looks very much like the CDC is deliberating complicating the two kinds of vaping so as to further drive a stake into the heart of everybody, especially the nicotine vaping ones.
Trump was convinced by Trump’s anti-vaping advisers in September to announce a ban on flavored products by selling him the idea that he would be able to gain more election supports among suburban parents if he could do that. But Trump was not warned that the move might awake issues from sources that are mostly unknown – vapers.
When the vaping community hears about Trump’s announcement, they received it as a declaration of war, immediately springing to action on it. CASAA launched a White House email and calling campaign. VapinYouTubers like Ruby Roo, Matt Culley, and Nick Green drove such huge followers to Twitter to popularize the hashtag #WeVapeWeVote. It became so much that vaping Twitter was suspected of being a collection of bots. And a rally that has been scheduled to hold in Washington in spring 2020 was rescheduled to hold in November this year.
Paul Blair in different private and public conversations with White House and Trump campaign officials argued that the course of the 2020 elections might be changed because of some angry vapers that either vote against Trump or decide to stay at home on election day. Considering the fact that Trump won in 2016 by small vote margins, vapers, angry over a flavor ban could destroy the re-election chances of the President.
On November 4, Trump backed away from the ban – that was a night before he was supposed to have a press conference with FDA and HHS officials to roll out the ban. According to the post, Trump said he was concerned about angry vape shop owners and their customers, as well as job losses. Trump later shifted the blame on Azar – the HHS Sec. for pushing him to move a ban without letting him also know what consequences and pushback he could get from the action.
While some administrative officials believe the initiative is dead, some think that Trump could still change his mind. They said the issue is not as urgent now as JUUL has voluntarily removed his popular mint pods from the market. Paul also added that the CDC has also finally conceded that it was the vitamin E acetate present in black market THC cartridges that was responsible for the lung injuries.
But obviously, tobacco control extremists will still not be satisfied with all of those as they were very close to achieving their longtime goal of making sure vape flavors are banned. They won’t rest until they ensure that happens. If Trump refuses to let the FDA ban them, the anti-vaping activists will surely pursue another means to achieve their goal.
If the FDA is able to enforce its PMTA requirement just as it has already been slated, then flavors will obviously be a moot point. By May 12, 2020, whether flavored or not allvaping products will be removed from the market. Although there are lawsuits to prevent that plan from seeing the light of the day, unless one of them succeeds, the independent vaping industry will eventually be shut down on that day.
American Vaping Association president, Gregory Conley said if we are able to avoid this ban, then the next point of action will be to make the Trump administration recognizes the need to reform the FDA’s regulatory system for these products.
Conley said, “If President Trump will like to keep the votes of those vapers come next fall, he will need to do more than just keeping quiet on this issue because the countdown clock has already begun – May 11, 2020, is already here.
It’s good for all to also know that Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire ex-New York City mayor has already invested about $160 million to make sure flavored vape products are banned. That money is still circulating through the tobacco control funding system and powerful anti-vaping groups are using the money to juice up influence in a network of like-minded organizations. They aim of all of them is to poison the well of public opinions against vaping, ensuring more restrictions, bans, and taxes.
Vapers should not relent yet because the work is not close to being done. We all still need to remain active and vigilant, working together to better armed and organized for more battles to come.