As President Donald Trump continues to appoint personnel to his administration, one person has caught the eye of vape advocacy groups: the latest candidate to head the FDA, Scott Gottlieb.
Gottlieb is a health policy analyst nominated by President Trump to be the FDA Commissioner. He is currently an adjunct professor of medicine at New York University School of Medicine and an internist at Tisch Hospital. Prior to joining medical school, Gottlieb worked as a health analyst at the investment bank Alex Brown and Sons.
Trump’s nomination of Gottlieb came as little surprise to FDA insiders or to Gottlieb himself; he has served at the agency in various capacities since 2005. Among his positions are deputy commissioner for senior executive services and health sciences. He was also a member of the White Biodefense Interagency, which convened after the 9/11 attacks, and was appointed to the Health Policy Panel by former Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Gottlieb also ran for president in 2016; he worked for Commissioner Scott Walker before joining Trump's team in the summer of 2016. His name had been on the list of potential candidates since last year, and the appointment was just official confirmation of what those in the health care field knew was coming.
While Gottlieb has extensive experience working for the FDA, his nomination has raised questions from members of Congress, specifically his views on vaping.
CPS Daily News reported that Gottlieb was announced as FDA Commissioner last week, and he declined to say whether he would support or reject a ban on vaping products. The response came after Washington state Democratic Senator Patty Murray asked him if he would consider banning flavors that could entice minors and young people to try vaping.
Murray listed a number of candy and sweet-flavored e-liquids while pressing Gottlieb for an answer, and the Commissioner responded as follows:
“I recognize there are some limits to this,” he said in response to Murray’s question, “and I don’t know where those limits are. I think those limits need to be drawn by experts in this matter, and I want to support that.”
Gottlieb's refusal to answer directly seems to have scored points with the vape industry, as it appears that Gottlieb is also unhappy with the misguided campaigns the US has waged against the industry.
When Murray and her colleagues pressed further, Gottlieb responded that issues with vaping, such as its potential as a smoking cessation product, whether it is a pathway to smoking, and other controversies, remain unanswered.
Gottlieb is right in that vaping has not been thoroughly studied by the medical community. However, the majority of studies on vaping have shown that vaping is a safe alternative to smoking. PHE has confirmed that vaping is 95% safer than smoking, and the UK has officially recognized vaping as an effective smoking cessation product and recommends it for office workers.
The fact that the future of vaping in many countries is still unclear is not too surprising, this technology has only appeared since 2008, is still very new and has a relatively short research period, meaning that large and large-scale research has not yet been completed.
So, arguably, Gottleb’s answer about vaping needing more research is correct. But that hasn’t stopped his detractors from pressing him for an answer.
Article source: churnmag
Author: Jimmy Hafrey
Translator: The Vape Club
