IN MY VIEW: Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids is Deliberately Lying to the Public

In a press release issued yesterday lamenting the passage by the House Appropriations Committee of a bill that grandfathers in existing e-cigarettes from the pre-market approval requirements of FDA vaping product regulations, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids claimed that the bill strips the FDA of authority to review the public health impact of e-cigarettes.

Specifically, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids stated that the bill:

"would “grandfather” e-cigarettes and cigars already on the market and exempt them from FDA review of their public health impact, including whether they appeal to kids." 

The Rest of the Story

The rest of the story is that the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids is lying. And I now believe that they are doing so deliberately with the specific intention of deceiving the public.

The truth is that the Bishop-Cole bill would not exempt e-cigarettes from FDA review of their public health impact. All it does is to prevent the FDA from requiring expensive and burdensome pre-market applications in order for e-cigarettes to remain on the market. The bill does nothing to take away the FDA's ability to review the public health impact of these products and to issue product standards, including restrictions on product flavorings, to protect the public's health.

For as long as I could, I tried to convince myself that the Campaign was just stretching the truth to protect its political interests and was not deliberately lying. While the Campaign was spreading misinformation, I did not necessarily believe that the Campaign lacked ethical integrity.

However, it is now clear to me that the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids is a organization that has neither scientific nor ethical integrity.

How do we know that the Campaign is deliberately lying? Well, later in the press release, the Campaign essentially admits as such. In trying to downplay the significance of a provision in the bill which requires the FDA to promulgate a standard regarding product flavorings within three years, the Campaign emphasizes that the FDA already has the authority to issue product standards, including standards to regulate flavorings. They state: "In one change this year, the House bill gives the FDA three years to develop a product standard addressing “characterizing flavors” in e-cigarettes. The FDA already has the authority under current law to issue such a product standard, so this provision does not provide the FDA with any new authority."

So any thought that the Campaign's false statement that the bill strips the FDA of its ability to review the impact of e-cigarettes was just an oversight is clearly laid to rest. The Campaign is fully aware that this is not the case and in fact makes this very argument in response to its opponents.

Furthermore, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids is wrong on this point. The Bishop-Cole bill is significant because it requires the FDA to promulgate standards to regulate vaping product flavorings. The agency has had the authority to do so for 8 years, but has failed to issue a single product standard during that time. Thus, forcing the FDA to act within 3 years is a very significant impact of the Bishop-Cole legislation.

The bottom line is that I now believe the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids is intentionally lying, with a deliberate aim of deceiving the public and its constituents. It is no more ethical than many of our public health opponents. However, I view their dishonesty as more troubling because the Campaign has incessantly attacked the tobacco companies for lying to the American people. The Campaign should therefore be beyond reproach in its own statements to the public.