House Committee to Question Acting FDA Leader Today

Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock is set to testify before a House subcommittee on Wednesday morning about youth vaping. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, chair of the panel, plans to press Woodcock to do more to stop kids from vaping and becoming addicted to nicotine.

“We still have a youth vaping epidemic, even amidst our pandemic,” said Krishnamoorthi, in a story for Yahoo Finance.

Krishnamoorthi has been an advocate for cracking down on the vaping industry over the past several years. In 2019, amid an outbreak of vaping-related illness linked to black market THC products not nicotine, there was bipartisan support for a crackdown — leading the Trump administration to issue a vaping flavor ban in an effort to curb teenage use.

The ban covered flavors that critics argued targeted children — like fruit, mint and candy flavors — but allowed menthol and tobacco flavors to remain legal. The ban only applied to cartridges or pre-filled pod devices, like the ones sold by Juul, not disposable e-cigarettes. Some critics argued the move wasn’t enough.

“You’ve got to get rid of all the flavors. Secondly, you have to make sure that disposable cigarettes are subject to the same flavor ban that all other products are subject to — and then third, we have to regulate the nicotine content,” said Krishnamoorthi. “These vapes that are currently on the market are so addictive.”