RegWatch by RegulatorWatch.com
Jul 4, 2026 · 43 min · 11 segments
The FDA says its policy restricting flavors in nicotine vaping products is for the protection of public health. But is it? With a singular focus on youth, the agency ignores tens of millions of adult…
Clive BatesGuest
Brent StaffordHost
We last had you on the show in January 2025, and a lot has happened at the FDA since then, including the tumultuous tenure of former FDA commissioner Dr. Marty Makary.
And I thought he was putting himself forward in that book as an iconoclast, someone who would follow the evidence, would challenge orthodoxy, would push back against the health and medical establishment.
And when he got his hands on the brief on vapes and safer nicotine products, he did exactly the opposite.
He was very quickly captured by the narratives from Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, John Hopkins.
Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Bloomberg Groups, the health and medical charities, without really taking a pragmatic view of the role that these safer products could play in reducing death and disease.
So I thought we were gonna see chapter 13 in his book, book rewritten or written as he took on this role, but we saw exactly the opposite.
The time was after Brian King in the Centre for Tobacco Products, the time was ripe for reform and rethinking what they were doing.
They have been pumping up the by being so restrictive about legal products, they've been pumping up the illicit market and they've been protecting the cigarette trade.
We last had you on the show in January 2025, and a lot has happened at the FDA since then, including the tumultuous tenure of former FDA commissioner Dr. Marty Makary.
And I thought he was putting himself forward in that book as an iconoclast, someone who would follow the evidence, would challenge orthodoxy, would push back against the health and medical establishment.
And when he got his hands on the brief on vapes and safer nicotine products, he did exactly the opposite.
He was very quickly captured by the narratives from Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, John Hopkins.
Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Bloomberg Groups, the health and medical charities, without really taking a pragmatic view of the role that these safer products could play in reducing death and disease.
So I thought we were gonna see chapter 13 in his book, book rewritten or written as he took on this role, but we saw exactly the opposite.
The time was after Brian King in the Centre for Tobacco Products, the time was ripe for reform and rethinking what they were doing.
They have been pumping up the by being so restrictive about legal products, they've been pumping up the illicit market and they've been protecting the cigarette trade.
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