Thank You For Not Smoking

This piece was originally published in Commonplace.

As he sets his sights on his second-term legacy, President Trump can take real steps to end the epidemic of chronic disease and death that results from cigarette smoking. His choice to lead the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Dr. Marty Makary, is the perfect person to spearhead this effort; the Senate should confirm Dr. Makary as soon as possible.

Americans don’t need to be reminded of how hazardous cigarettes are to our health. Despite a tremendous drop in cigarette use over the last several decades, cigarettes still kill close to half a million Americans each year. Roughly 16 million Americans suffer from a chronic diseases linked to cigarette smoking, including heart disease, lung disease, stroke, and cancer.

One of Dr. Makary’s top priorities should be streamlining the review and approval processes for alternatives to cigarettes, such as e-cigarettes, which, for adult smokers, are a less harmful product than traditional cigarettes.

Due to the Biden administration’s ineptitude, the U.S. market has been flooded with dangerous, illegal vapes smuggled in from China with no oversight. Meanwhile, American vaping companies that must subject their products to FDA’s rigorous standards have seen their authorization requests stymied. It’s the worst of all worlds.

Biden’s weak border policies opened the floodgates to Chinese-made vapes, which now make up about 85% of all e-cigarette sales in our country. Adding insult to injury, these same products are banned from being sold in China.

President Trump and Dr. Makary recognize that America can’t lead while being defiled by toxic Chinese vapes. Trump sees the threat for what it is—calling these Chinese e-cigarettes by their true name: “poison.”

Dr. Makary, said Trump, will “properly evaluate harmful chemicals poisoning our Nation’s food supply and drugs and biologics being given to our Nation’s youth…” And there’s no time like the present.

Vaping has provided adult smokers with an alternative to traditional cigarettes. But the explosion of illegal, unregulated products, particularly from China, has turned this market into a public health hazard. Today, countless vapes—many containing unknown chemicals and toxic additives—are being smuggled into the U.S. and sold to minors with no oversight.

China has long been America’s top adversary when it comes to economic sabotage. From fentanyl precursors to counterfeit pharmaceuticals, Beijing has allowed its factories to inundate our streets with deadly substances.

Now, the Communist Party is turning a blind eye as Chinese manufacturers churn out illegal vapes—products that bypass U.S. health regulations and contribute to the growing epidemic of youth addiction. This is not a coincidence; it’s part of a broader pattern of China exploiting our weak enforcement to undermine American communities.

The previous administration’s approach to the problem can best be described as being asleep at the wheel. While only 34 e-cigarette products are authorized for sale in the U.S., there are more than 9,000 types of vapes—most of them Chinese-made disposables—being sold in the U.S. Biden’s seizure of $83 million worth of these illegal goods are a pittance compared to the approximately $16.8 billion worth of these products that have poured into the U.S. since 2020.

President Trump proved in his first term that public health and American industry don’t have to be at odds. By banning flavored pods, he took decisive action to protect youth while giving adult smokers alternatives. Yet, Biden’s incompetent border security sabotaged Trump’s efforts, giving China a free pass to unleash an unchecked wave of illicit products into our communities.

The Trump administration took a positive step last month, ruling that a Chinese-developed vape called the NJOY Ace was created with stolen technology from an American company, and ordering an importation ban on the device. But that only scratches the surface of what an administration committed to eliminating these harmful imports could do.

Once confirmed, Dr. Makary can begin unwinding Biden’s blunders to better keep Americans safe.

For starters, he can provide American adults with safer cigarette alternatives to choose from by instructing the FDA to fast-track reviews for American-made products that meet safety standards. Supporting U.S. manufacturers who are creating jobs and following the rules has the added benefit of supporting President Trump’s America First economic agenda.  

Next, the administration can protect American consumers from unregulated Chinese products by beefing up border security and strengthening enforcement against illegal goods that are smuggled into the U.S. Trump should also demand that Beijing do more to stop the flow of these illegal exports in the first place.

The choice before us is clear: we can continue down the path of weak enforcement, allowing China to dictate the terms of our public health policy, or we can stand up and fight back. President Trump has never been afraid to put America first, and that’s exactly what is needed to protect our children, our communities, and our national security.

With a new leader at the helm, Trump’s FDA is poised to end the era of allowing dangerous, illegal Chinese vapes to flood our streets. America—not China—should control the future of our country’s public health and safety.