Since I’ve never smoked or vaped, I have no personal interest in the the regulatory battle over vaping and e-cigarettes.
That being said, I started writing about this issue back in 2016 because it involves several important principles.
- The libertarian argument that people should be free to do what they want
with their own bodies - Whether the “administrative state” should be able to unilaterally grab more regulatory power.
- The degree to which “harm reduction” or “zero tolerance” should guide government policies.
From a public health perspective, the third point is most important.
It’s a fight between those who want the Food and Drug Administration to use its self-anointed regulatory authority to ban e-cigarettes (because vaping is worse than not vaping) and those who explain that e-cigarettes are helpful (because vaping is far less risky than smoking).
This fight has a September 9 deadline. The Food and Drug Administration decided several years ago that its power to regulate tobacco somehow meant it also has the power to regulate vaping. The bureaucrats then created a system requiring future approval for marketing and sale of e-cigarettes and related products (originally to be unveiled in 2022 but a federal judge has ordered an earlier deadline).
Dan Mitchell – International Liberty – 2020-05-11.
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