New out for FDA on vapor rules

It seems like solid advice. A new commentary posted on the National Review website calls for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to “decline to defend” pending litigation related to the deeming rule for vapor products.

Authors Jeff Stier, a senior fellow at the National Center for Public Policy Research in Washington, D.C., and Henry Miller, a physician, molecular biologist and the Robert Wesson Fellow in Scientific Philosophy and Public Policy at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, say newly appointed FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb and Attorney General Jeff Sessions could help save thousands of lives by not defending current lawsuits by the several cigar and vapor industry manufacturers.  

“Attorney General Sessions, in consultation with Commissioner Gottlieb, can act right now by announcing the administration’s decision not to further defend the myriad cases,” the opinion states. “Not only would doing so remove a politically charged issue from Gottlieb’s already very full plate, but it would help to restore the FDA’s credibility. It would also prevent the DOJ from being forced to make untenable legal arguments.”

Stier first presented his decline-to-defend argument during a tobacco industry conference held in Washington D.C. last week. He said at that time that declining to defend the lawsuits could also save taxpayers millions of dollars in legal fees.

The opinion piece can be found here: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/447641/cigarette-smoking-vaping-ban-bad