Trump backing off ban on vaping flavours popular with teens
A scaled-back flavour ban was widely expected to be announced earlier this month — but no decision ever came
When U.S. President Donald Trump boarded Air Force One to fly to a Kentucky campaign rally two weeks ago, a plan was in place for him to give final approval to a plan to ban most flavoured e-cigarettes.
By the time Trump landed back at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington a few hours later, the plan was off. And its future is unclear.
For nearly two months, momentum had been building inside the White House to try to halt a youth vaping epidemic that experts feared was hurting as many as five million teenagers.
Both Melania Trump and Ivanka Trump, the president's wife and daughter, pushed for the ban, which was also being championed internally by White House counsellor Kellyanne Conway, who has taken lead on some public health issues.
But as Trump sat surrounded by political advisers on the flights to and from Lexington, he grew reluctant to sign the ban, convinced it could alienate voters who would be financially or otherwise affected by a vaping ban, according to two White House and campaign officials not authorized to speak publicly about private conversations.
A news conference scheduled by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar to announce the ban was cancelled, while more meetings with industry leaders and lobbyists were proposed, according to the officials.
Trump tweeted last week that he'll be meeting with vaping industry representatives, medical professionals and others "to come up with an acceptable solution to the vaping and e-cigarette dilemma."
The White House has yet to announce a date for a meeting.
Will be meeting with representatives of the Vaping industry, together with medical professionals and individual state representatives, to come up with an acceptable solution to the Vaping and E-cigarette dilemma. Children’s health & safety, together with jobs, will be a focus!
—@realDonaldTrumpThis month, Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale and others showed the president polling data indicating that e-cigarette users could abandon him if he followed through with the ban, the officials said.
Campaign aides also highlighted an aggressive social media campaign — #IVapeIVote — in which advocates claimed a ban would force the closure of vaping shops, eliminating jobs and sending users of electronic cigarettes back to traditional cigarettes. Parscale also reportedly pointed out the risk that a ban could have on e-cigarette users in key battleground states that Trump narrowly won in 2016.
Others in the West Wing, including Conway, have argued that a ban could be a winning issue with suburban voters, including mothers, who have fled the president in large numbers. Few would predict where Trump — who is known to abruptly change his mind — would end up on the issue since he recently has been consumed with other matters, notably the impeachment hearings.
Industry opposition
The vaping industry's largest trade group said Monday the administration was heading "in the right direction for adult smokers and their families."
"Bans don't work, they never have," Tony Abboud, executive director of the Vapor Technology Association, said in a statement.
Gregory Conley, president of the American Vaping Association, an advocacy organization, added that the government should put in place "sensible and targeted regulations" before it resorts to prohibition. Opponents of a ban say that could lead to the creation of an underground market for electronic cigarettes.
But Matt Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said Trump would be guilty of "terrible public policy" and "bad politics" if he backs down.
"This is one of the very few issues on which public views are unified," said Myers. "There are a small number of vape shop owners who are loud and don't care. But there are millions more moms and dads who are deeply concerned."
Robin Koval, president and CEO of the Truth Initiative, a non-profit, anti-tobacco organization, called on Trump to implement the original plan.
"The health of America's youth must come first and is not for sale or political gain," Koval said in a statement.
Melania Trump a major proponent
Melania Trump had opened the White House to a group of young people from the Truth Initiative in October, who told her about their experiences with vaping.
Trump's initial pledge on Sept. 11 to ban virtually all flavoured e-cigarettes stunned vaping proponents and was immediately embraced by anti-tobacco advocates. In an Oval Office appearance with his wife and Azar, Trump said the government would act within weeks to protect children from fruit, candy, dessert and other sweet vaping flavours, including mint and menthol.
The announcement followed a tweet two days earlier by Melania Trump expressing concern "about the growing epidemic of e-cigarette use in our children."
I am deeply concerned about the growing epidemic of e-cigarette use in our children. We need to do all we can to protect the public from tobacco-related disease and death, and prevent e-cigarettes from becoming an on-ramp to nicotine addiction for a generation of youth. <a href="https://twitter.com/HHSGov?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@HHSGov</a>
—@FLOTUS"We need to do all we can to protect the public from tobacco-related disease and death, and prevent e-cigarettes from becoming an on-ramp to nicotine addiction for a generation of youth," she said.
Protests, online campaigns push back
But within days, Trump tweeted that e-cigarettes might be a less harmful alternative for smokers, a point long made by the industry. Meanwhile, vaping lobbyists, conservative groups and Republican lawmakers from key states warned Trump that a crackdown could cost him with voters.
The Vapor Technology Association launched ads and an online campaign promising to punish Trump and other politicians who support vaping restrictions. Conservative groups that have long promoted vaping as an alternative to smoking, including Americans for Tax Reform, joined the criticism.
That group and others helped organize protests against banning flavours, including one outside the White House. Trump supporters also showed up at some of his campaign rallies holding signs expressing their opposition to a ban.
The industry warned some 15,000 to 19,000 vaping shops across the country — and jobs — could be wiped out if flavours were eliminated.
The administration was widely expected earlier this month to announce a scaled-back flavour ban that would exempt menthol, citing research that the flavour was not widely used by children. But no decision came.
Trump instead told reporters on Nov. 8 — four days after his political advisers buttonholed him on the Kentucky trip — he was considering new approaches to curbing teen use, including raising the minimum age for purchasing tobacco from 18 to 21.
Last week, Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson sent Trump a letter warning against "unchecked government action that stifles innovation and restricts adults' freedom to choose safer alternatives to smoking."
Asked how disappointed Melania Trump would be if the president did not follow through with a ban, spokesperson Stephanie Grisham, who also speaks for the president, said the first lady's priority is the health and safety of children.
"She does not believe e-cigarettes or any nicotine products should be marketed or available to children," Grisham said.
Underage vaping has reached what health officials call epidemic levels. In the latest government survey, one in four high school students reported using e-cigarettes in the previous month.
Anticipating a ban on flavours, Juul Labs, the country's largest e-cigarette maker, said this month it would stop selling its bestselling mint-flavoured nicotine pods.
