Editorial: Downgrading vaping epidemic to 'dilemma' is threat to health
It's not often we get to cheer President Donald Trump for an impulsive policy declaration, but we were pleased in September to praise what we called his "strong, urgent and important message about a serious problem."
Alas, it appears we may have spoken too soon. The president's message now is proving neither strong nor urgent, and its importance has been demoted from "epidemic" to "dilemma."
Instead of signing within 30 days an order removing vaping flavors from the market, as he had promised, President Trump announced last week in a tweet that he will meet with relevant sources, including vaping industry representatives and medical professionals, "to come up with an acceptable solution to the Vaping and E-cigarette dilemma," though he did not indicate when such a meeting or meetings might occur.
His apparent retreat from a position on which he and his top health officials - Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and acting FDA Commissioner Ned Sharpless joined in the September announcement - seemed fully committed to is not just a political disappointment; it's a dangerous capitulation that will have consequences on the health of tens of thousands of people.
Whatever the reason for President Trump's newfound pliancy, we hope he will carry through with those promised meetings. What he will encounter is a faceoff between medical professionals who have seen what happens when a dangerous product is marketed to young people and an industry eager to do the marketing.
This apparently is what amounts to a "Vaping and E-cigarette dilemma" in the president's mind. It is no dilemma in our mind; it is a question of whether the long-term health and quality of life of children will be subordinated to the short-term profit interests of adults who have shown themselves to be remarkably sophisticated at preying on them.
The vaping industry insists that the value of its product is in its ability to help people give up traditional combustible cigarettes. The preliminary research suggests that contention is invalid, but even if the argument were true, the only value of sugary sweet flavors like bubble gum, cotton candy and hundreds of similar others is to appeal to young people.
In September, the president drew the attention of parents and children alike to the dangers of the vaping epidemic. By downgrading the issue to the status of "dilemma," he sabotages his original remark and raises the specter not of controlling the threat but of deepening it. If he indeed is committed to speaking with industry and medical experts, we hope President Trump does it soon, and we hope, though not confidently, he is indeed independent enough to recognize he was right the first time.