Illicit vapes frustrate FDA head
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What keeps Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Robert Califf up at night? The agency’s struggle to stop illicit vapes coming into the U.S. from China.
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“If anything would make me sleep less right now this is one of several issues,” Califf told a House panel Thursday. “It’s not as if people don’t see it coming in. Boxes full of vaping products were labeled as lanterns.”
During a House Appropriations hearing on the agency’s FY 2025 budget request, Califf said Congress can help the agency cut through red tape to make it easier to seize the products as soon as they arrive in U.S. shipping facilities.
Chinese regulators banned vaping flavors in 2022, Califf noted, so the devices are pouring into the U.S. But he explained that the agency is hampered by legal restrictions.
“We have to go by what’s on the label … it takes weeks to get that fixed and then there’s a timeframe by which if we don’t do something the product goes on through” to U.S. shops, he said.
FDA is facing bipartisan pressure to do more to stop Chinese vape products in kid-friendly flavors from entering the market. Despite the FDA issuing a ban on most fruit and mint-flavored e-cigarettes, products continue to flow into the U.S. and become available for purchase.
“FDA’s continued inability to clear the market of illicit tobacco products. I simply do not understand why FDA cannot – or will not – tackle this problem head on and get illicit products out of the marketplace,” said Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), chairman of the appropriations subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development and FDA.
“This should be the Center for Tobacco Products’ number one focus, not dreaming up new rulemakings to further exacerbate black markets,” he added.
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Welcome to The Hill’s Health Care newsletter, we’re Nathaniel Weixel and Joseph Choi — every week we follow the latest moves on how Washington impacts your health.
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How policy will be impacting the health care sector this week and beyond:
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The Government Accountability Office (GAO) says in a new report that the Department of Health and Human Services’s (HHS) response to the 2022 mpox outbreak was uncoordinated and lacked interagency cohesion. For its report, the GAO visited 14 U.S. jurisdictions including Los Angeles, Miami Dade County, Atlanta, Chicago and New York City. The agency also interviewed nongovernmental stakeholders and reviewed the actions …
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The weight loss medication Zepbound has gone into shortage just months after it was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), with its manufacturer Eli Lilly blaming the situation on high demand. As of this week, most tirzepatide injections (sold commercially as Mounjaro and Zepbound) have limited availability, according to the FDA’s shortage database. The cited reason for all the shortages of tirzepatide is …
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The Biden campaign is seeking to make former President Trump the face of the anti-abortion movement as Democrats look to harness voter fury following the overturning of Roe v. Wade. At campaign stops in the days since a Civil War-era abortion ban was upheld in Arizona, Vice President Kamala Harris has gone hard against “Trump abortion bans” and accused the former president of “gaslighting” Americans about whether he’d …
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Branch out with a different read:
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Kentucky governor announces lottery to award initial round of medical cannabis business licenses
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FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky will use a lottery system to award an initial round of licenses to businesses competing to participate in the state’s startup medical cannabis program, Gov. Andy Beshear announced Thursday. The governor called it a fair way to give each applicant that clears the screening process an opportunity to land …
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Local and state headlines on health care:
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Repeal of Arizona’s abortion bill will dominate Legislature for weeks. What’s the holdup? (
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The path to a better tuberculosis vaccine runs through Montana (
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Proposed changes to state Medicaid plans could shake up health coverage for 1.8 million low-income Texans (
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Health news we’ve flagged from other outlets:
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Democrats say they have a winning hand on abortion but outside groups won’t let them play it (
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As Zepbound shortage grows, Eli Lilly says no immediate end is in sight (
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Millions of girls in Africa will miss HPV shots after Merck production problem (
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Most read stories on The Hill right now:
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Momentum is growing quickly behind the effort to remove Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) from power if he moves to alter the motion to vacate rule as part …
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Jury selection consumed the third day of former President Trump’s hush money trial on Thursday. All 12 jurors were seated by the for Trump’s …
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You’re all caught up. See you tomorrow!
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by | Apr 18, 2024 | The Hill
{beacon}
Cantwell backs updated bill that could ban TikTok
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Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) announced her support Wednesday for a bipartisan bill that would force TikTok’s Chinese parent company to sell the app or face a ban in the U.S. after it was updated to extend the period of time for the sale.
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The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversarial Controlled Applications Act passed the House in a broad bipartisan vote in March, just a week after it was introduced. Support from the Commerce Committee chair clears a path for it to proceed in the upper chamber.
“I’m very happy that Speaker [Mike] Johnson [R-La.] and House leaders incorporated my recommendation to extend the ByteDance divestment period from six months to a year. As I’ve said, extending the divestment period is necessary to ensure there is enough time for a new buyer to get a deal done. I support this updated legislation,” Cantwell said in a statement Wednesday evening.
The tweak amends one of the concerns critics raised about the bill, specifically that it gave a short time frame for TikTok’s parent company to sell the app before it would be banned.
But other lawmakers have raised different concerns that still could emerge as the legislation goes forward. Some progressive Democrats criticized the bill as infringing on users’ free speech rights.
The update to the bill was made as part of a package of legislation House GOP leaders unveiled Wednesday.
In addition to including the forced TikTok sale provision, the legislation also includes new sanctions on Iran, military aide to Ukraine aide in the form of a forgivable loan and a provision to give the federal government authority to use seized Russian assets to pay for the costs of Ukrainian reconstruction.
Read more in a full report at
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Welcome to The Hill’s Technology newsletter, we’re Rebecca Klar and Julia Shapero — tracking the latest moves from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley.
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How policy will be impacting the tech sector now and in the future:
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Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said Thursday that he is “not in favor” of former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin participating in efforts to purchase TikTok as a bill that would require the app’s parent company to divest or face a U.S. ban gains new momentum. “I like some of these ideas about divestiture to American firms and the like,” Wyden said at Semafor’s World Economy Summit. However, he added, “I am not in favor of …
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Instagram’s recent decision to move the platform away from political content has sparked concerns among content creators and advocacy groups over which issues will be included. The social media site began rolling out changes last month, following through on previously announced plans to stop recommending political content across Instagram and Threads. Unless users change their settings, they will no longer see political content …
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Google fired 28 employees Wednesday who protested the tech giant’s cloud computing contract with the Israeli government. Protesters staged sit-ins Tuesday at two Google offices — New York City and Sunnyvale, Calif. — in protest of the $1.2 billion contract that the company shares with Amazon to provide cloud computing services to Israel. Nine people were arrested. “A small number of employee protesters entered and disrupted …
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News we’ve flagged from the intersection of tech and other topics:
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Meta releases next generation AI model
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The parent company of Facebook and Instagram has released the next generation of its artificial intelligence (AI) model, known as Llama 3, which it claims represents a “major leap” over its previous version,
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Google consolidates AI teams
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Google plans to consolidate teams that work on building AI models across its Research and DeepMind divisions,
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Upcoming news themes and events we’re watching:
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- Tesla will announce its first-quarter financial results on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.
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Two key stories on The Hill right now:
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Reps. James Comer (R-Ky.) and Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) got into a heated shouting match during a congressional hearing Wednesday. The two top lawmakers …
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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said she doesn’t care if the “Speaker’s office becomes a revolving door” in Thursday comments as she pushes …
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You’re all caught up. See you tomorrow!
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