juul vap 2
==
see e-cig
RFK2 SPOX QUIT ON FLAVOR KID VAPE
WILES KID LOBBY
IWF?
-=-=
-=-=
an 8 26
At the core of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s rise as a political celebrity is the enduring American reverence for his family. Decades ago, during his career as an environmental advocate, that lingering aura inspired admiration and even hope.
Yet the longer Bobby Jr. remains in the corrupting orbit of this regime and its maximum leader, the more he has come to reflect the degraded values and morals of the Trump family rather than his own.
Flawed as the legendary Kennedys were, nobody has ever thought of Jack, Robert or Teddy as low-rent grifters seeking to scam the government or the public for personal gain. Quite the opposite, since they devoted their political careers to protecting the American people from crooks like Roy Cohn -- the Trump lawyer and moral mentor who was twice indicted when Robert F. Kennedy Sr. was attorney general.
On the current record, it is clear that RFK Jr. has long since abandoned the illustrious example of his forebears and embraced instead the grabbing-with-both-hands ethic of his new political family. During the past year alone, Bobby has abandoned all the environmental and public health principles that supposedly animated his career for the past 40 years, strictly to enrich and promote himself and his dear leader Donald Trump (a man his father and uncles assuredly would have scorned).
Consider just one of the many abuses of power perpetrated by Bobby for his own personal and political gain. As disclosed earlier this summer in The New York Times, he went out of his way to protect the distribution of Kratom, a highly toxic, mind-bending drug, mostly sold in gas stations and convenience marts, that has been linked to thousands of deaths. Exercising his authority as Health and Human Services secretary in the fall of 2025, he called the governor of Ohio in an effort to stop a state ban on the dangerous substance. Among the Kratom producers who benefited from this action -- the opposite of what any public health official should have done -- was a man formerly known as Jerry Cash, who had served time in prison for embezzlement and later changed his surname to Ross.
As Jerry Ross, the Kratom mogul poured $162,000 into the defunct RFK Jr. 2024 presidential committee after Trump named Bobby as health secretary. And several months later, after Food and Drug Administration granted additional favors to boost kratom, Ross wrote another million-dollar check to Kennedy's MAHA PAC.
Like Trump, Kennedy has profited from blatant conflicts of interest while refusing to divest himself of those deals and arrangements. He still stands to profit from his consulting contract with a Los Angeles personal injury law firm that is suing vaccine makers such as Merck. When he was confirmed, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and others objected, noting that at HHS he could use his power to increase his legal bonanza (which has brought him millions of dollars over the past few years).
And like Trump, Kennedy banks big money from his "patriotic" sloganeering, by personally licensing "Make American Healthy Again" as a brand - while he uses government resources to promote that brand. When Dr. Anthony Fauci came under fire in a Senate hearing in July, Kennedy used the opportunity to promote his scurrilous book attacking the former federal science official -- despite his previous pledge not to run that particular sleazy grift.
How much longer Kennedy will be able to exploit the naivete of the "MAHA Moms" who form his political base remains to be seen. Many of them have grown restive as he repeatedly sells out their ideals to back Trump's pay-for-play arrangements with pesticide producers, tobacco firms and other industries whose depredations he swore to fight. For the MAHA movement, a bitter realization is coming: They followed a leader named and packaged as a Kennedy, but underneath he was just another shoddy Trump.
-=-=
-=-=-=
AN 5 26
A top spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services is the latest Trump official to quit the administration in response to a new policy push that is poised to expose children to higher risks of lung disease and cancer.
On Wednesday, the New York Times reported that Rich Danker, the chief spokesman for HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., had submitted a letter to President Donald Trump announcing his resignation. He specifically cited the administration's recent pivot to supporting new rules that would "allow major tobacco companies to begin selling flavored vapes that appeal to children." Danker is the second high-profile departure this decision has caused, coming just one day after the resignation of Food and Drug Administration head Marty Makary.
In the letter, which the Times obtained a copy of, Danker took pains to stress that he was not directly blaming the president for this new vape policy, and praised him for supposedly having "twice restored our prosperity and national security against all odds," and citing various unnamed "senior HHS officials" as being behind it. Nevertheless, he "warned" Trump about the dangers to children that this new policy would create.
"Senior H.H.S. officials in the immediate office of the secretary have in recent months sought U.S. Food and Drug Administration marketing approval of e-cigarette flavors that would appeal to children and expose them to nicotine addiction, lung damage and higher risk of cancer," Danker wrote.
The new policy from HHS, posted last week, claimed that it will aim to "remove illicit e-cigarettes from the market," while allowing those that "already crossed hurdles toward agency approval" to be sold. Makary reportedly resigned after his attempts to overrule the flavored vapes policy were overruled. Despite Danker opting not to pin any blame on Trump, the Times reported that he "was personally involved advancing it."
"Mr. Danker’s resignation comes at a particularly fraught time for the Department of Health and Human Services," the Times explained. "With Dr. Makary’s resignation on Tuesday, the department now has three major vacancies. The positions of surgeon general and director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are also unfilled. As the assistant secretary for public affairs for the Department of Health and Human Services, Mr. Danker was responsible for coordinating the department’s outward communications. He was in Los Angeles on Wednesday, where Mr. Kennedy is speaking at a conference on the possible link between diet and cancer."
The resignation is also the latest sign of the deteriorating relationship between Trump and Kennedy's "Make America Healthy Again" movement, which has been credited with helping him get reelected in 2024. Since returning to the White House, Trump has disappointed MAHA adherents with his lack of progress on implementing anti-vaccine policies that they favor, as well as his support for loosening regulations on pesticides. Sources within the administration are reportedly unconcerned about losing MAHA support, viewing their influence as insignificant.
---
---}:
NEPO BABY VAPE
AN 5 26
The Daily Beast confirms that President Donald Trump’s abrupt passion to make the FDA approve vaping products came after a tobacco firm lobbied his office in each of the last four quarters, according to lobbying reports, either directly or through a firm where Chief of Staff Susie Wiles’ daughter works.
The DB reports Wiles was previously registered as a lobbyistfor Ballard Partners, which lobbied the government on behalf of SI Group Client Services, an associated branch of U.S. international tobacco company Swisher. Wiles represented the tobacco firm in 2019, 2021, and 2022 and is “name-checked in filings at least once in each of those years,” says DB. She later lobbied Congress with Mercury Public Affairs, which also acted on behalf of SI Group in 2023 and 2024, according to Public Citizen.
“In the Swisher filings where she’s named, the most common lobbying issues were ‘Monitor FDA issues regarding flavoring in tobacco products’ and ‘FDA regulations,’” reports DB. “Since Wiles, 68, began working at the White House, Continental Strategy has lobbied consistently on behalf of Swisher.”
Katie Wiles was reportedly promoted by Continentalthe day after her mom was appointed White House chief of staff. She is now a partner in the firm but not a registered lobbyist.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that Trump scolded Food and Drug Administration commissioner Marty Makary for not moving fast enough to approve flavored vapes. The Journal reported that Trump’s advisers told him Makary had blocked his ambition to get those flavors approved, citing sources who said he and Trump, 79, had discussed them directly.
“Makary had reportedly pushed against the flavors because he was concerned about their appeal to children and possible public health risks,” reports DB.
“White House spokesperson Kush Desai said in a statement to the Beast: “President Trump consistently pledged to expand access to vapes in light of an abundance of evidence finding that these products are beneficial for Americans trying to quit smoking.
The FDA announced on Tuesday that it had given the thumbs-up to vape firm Glas to manufacture menthol, mango, and blueberry flavors.
Flavored vaping products have become a significant regulatory battleground, particularly regarding their appeal to youth. Public health organizations including the American Academy of Pediatrics have documented concerns that flavored vapes—especially fruity and dessert varieties—serve as gateway products for young people.
The FDA has previously restricted flavored e-cigarettes in certain contexts, citing youth addiction rates. However, the tobacco industry argues flavored products help adult smokers transition away from traditional cigarettes. The tension between these positions has intensified as vaping use among teenagers has fluctuated in recent years.
Makary's resistance to approving additional flavors aligns with FDA guidance emphasizing youth protection as a central regulatory concern. Trump's pressure to accelerate approvals represents a significant shift in FDA priorities, potentially prioritizing industry interests over the public health precautions that animated the agency's previous stance on flavor restrictions.
:{---
HALLUCIN LSD FOR ROGAN 5 26 //
AN 5 26
Nobel laureate Paul Krugman calls right-wing politics “deadly” — and predicts that “MAGA Will Kill Many Americans,” by the thousands, driven by greed and willful ignorance.
Krugman goes one step further, arguing outright that this is not by accident:
“Does MAGA want to see thousands of Americans die prematurely from smoking and refusal to get vaccinated? Yes,” he writes.
He argues that the right’s decades-long opposition to health care is driven by greed, especially from “wealthy donors unwilling to pay taxes to help others in need.”
Krugman points to Tuesday’s decision by Trump’s FDA to allow blueberry and mango-flavored vapes, which critics warn will increase use among the young.
Why?
“Trump is reportedly hoping that support for vaping will win back support from young men,” Krugman writes — a constituency the president has been losing during his second term in office.
There’s also the recent decision, again by Trump’s FDA, to block the release of studies finding the COVID-19 and shingles vaccines safe, with side effects rare.
“Beyond this,” he continues, “right-wing politics in America often goes hand in hand with hostility to science in general and medical science in particular. The deadly linkage between reactionary politics and rejection of science was obvious during the Covid pandemic.”
Krugman also implicates greed in the anti-vaccine movement, saying that “quack medicine is big business.”
“Right-wing radio and social media have long relied on peddlers of snake oil for a large part of their revenue. So much of the attack on medical science can be seen as financially motivated,” he writes.
Ideological willful ignorance plays a part as well — driven by the alliance between oligarchs and white Christian nationalism, the latter of which is “deeply hostile to Enlightenment values, modern science very much included.”
To prove his point, Krugman points to the widely-reported resurgence of measles, that was seen as eliminated from the United States decades ago, thanks to vaccines. Now, many parents are choosing to forego vaccinating their children against this highly contagious and potentially deadly disease.
He adds to that the refusal of many red states to expand Medicaid, a program largely paid for by the federal government under the Affordable Care Act.
The data bear him out. Life expectancy in “Trump-leaning” states trails blue states significantly.
There’s “a strong, clear negative correlation between Trump-leaning orientation and low life expectancy at the state level,” Krugman writes. “Deep red states like Alabama and West Virginia have life expectancy comparable to, say, Kazakhstan.”
---
3/9/20 kpfa
juul gave money to many AG's but lawsuits continue in many states
==
SF prop abandoned?
10/19
https://truenorthresearch.org/report/report-one/
Juul Deploying Big Tobacco Playbook to Preempt Local Control
October 7, 2019
In a new white paper by Local Solutions Support Center (LSSC) and Illumination Investigations, Evan Vorpahl and Lisa Graves document how Juul has flooded statehouses
==
intercept
THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY pioneered tactics to fight regulations by manufacturing doubt about the scientific consensus that cigarettes kill. So it should be no surprise to encounter a strategy among defenders of the e-cigarette that also centers around doubt. If we don’t know for certain that a product is safe, we might urge caution. Sense About Science has argued the opposite: so long as we don’t know the product is unsafe, medical professionals have no business urging regulation.
E-cigarettes turn chemical solutions into a nicotine-filled mist, which consumers ingest without the added harm of tobacco tar. When the devices hit the American market in 2007, sales quickly took off. Tobacco companies increasingly dominate the industry, which is projected to be worth $54 billion by 2025. A recent national survey found a sharp rise in e-cigarette smoking among high school students — from 1.5 percent in 2011 to 16 percent last year.
The skyrocketing popularity of e-cigarettes among young people worries public health experts because so little is known about the devices’ safety. E-cigarettes are too new for scientists to have assessed their long-term health risks. British and American scientific bodies have reacted to this paucity of evidence with different views of the relative dangers.
Last year, Public Health England joined other British public health organizations in encouraging smokers to use e-cigarettes as an aid in quitting tobacco. The Royal College of Physicians effectively endorsed this view in April, when it argued against regulating a product that could help smokers quit.
But American public health officials worry that nicotine, which is as addictive as heroin and cocaine, will hook young smokers and cause lasting harm to their still-developing brains. Nicotine is linked to immunosuppression as well as cardiovascular, respiratory, and gastrointestinal disorders. There is evidence that it interferes with chemotherapies and may even play a role in cancer. Researchers are just beginning to study whether the more than 7,000 flavoring chemicals, which typically aren’t disclosed on e-cigarettes, are safe when inhaled.
Back in 2012, the British Medical Association called for a ban on the devices in public in order to “ensure their use does not undermine smoking prevention and cessation by reinforcing the normalcy of cigarette use.” BMA reaffirmed this judgment as recently as this past June, despite the opposing position of the Royal College of Physicians. Sense About Science reacted to BMA’s call for a ban by asking the association to produce evidence that e-cigarettes caused harm. “This move towards heavy regulation appears to be driven by the fear that e-cigs might be harmful or act as a gateway to conventional tobacco — despite little or no evidence for either claim,” the organization argued on its website in 2013, two years before Public Health England endorsed e-cigarettes as a tool to quit smoking. Such regulations, Sense About Science stated, could do more harm than good by inhibiting access to products that may help reduce harm from smoking tobacco cigarettes.
Although Sense About Science has demanded evidence that e-cigarettes cause harm, it seems poised to cast doubt on the evidence when it turns up. In August, the organization challenged the relevance of research presented that month at a cardiology conference showing that nicotine in e-cigarettes can stiffen arteries, an early indication of heart disease. Sense About Science’s expert dismissively compared the effects of nicotine documented in the research to those of “watching a thriller or a football match.”
Here in the United States, just this past May, the Food and Drug Administration moved to regulate e-cigarettes, including banning sales to those 18 and under. The CDC, too, takes the health risks of nicotine seriously. Last fall, the centers called for strategies to reduce the use of all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes. “The potential long-term benefits and risks associated with e-cigarette use are not currently known,” the CDC reported. “What is known is that nicotine exposure at a young age may cause lasting harm to brain development, promote nicotine addiction, and lead to sustained tobacco use.”
==
==