A Crown Juul of Stupidity at FDA
Deroy Murdock /
Is any aspect of American life safe from President Joe Biden and his battalions of intrusive, dim-witted federal bureaucrats?
COVID-19’s embers are not yet cold. Parents still scramble for baby formula. And now, tampons have gone scarce.
Rather than solve these and other real problems for the American people, the Food and Drug Administration aims to eradicate a specific product designed as a healthier alternative to earlier offerings.
Vaping industry leader Juul’s mission statement leads its website: “To transition the world’s billion adult smokers away from combustible cigarettes, eliminate their use, and combat underage usage of our products.” Everyone agrees that Juul’s vaping products deliver nicotine with little to none of the garbage in old-fashioned smokes, including tar, formaldehyde, and arsenic.
Even the FDA concedes that point. Its recent decree stated that “exposure to carcinogens and other toxicants present in cigarette smoke were greatly reduced with exclusive use” of Juul products.
Vaping sometimes exposes us nonsmokers to odorless steam from nicotine devices rather than the oppressive stench of burned tobacco.
Never mind!
The FDA extinguished Juul’s $100 million, 125,000-page, data-driven, scientifically rich application to continue operations.
The FDA commanded Juul to ditch its entire U.S. product line.
Juul Labs Inc. employs some 1,000 people. To hell with them, the FDA decided on behalf of Biden, the “nice guy” in the White House.
Thankfully, Juul sued to stop the FDA’s bullies. A panel of federal judges in Washington, D.C., has stayed the FDA’s edict and will let Juul argue for its survival.
Juul’s appeal surely will be worthy of the Harvard Law Review. But any high school graduate could detail the FDA’s absurdity.
It would be bad enough if the FDA simply banned vaping. Though foolish and tyrannical, at least that would be internally consistent.
Instead, the FDA is ignoring other companies and isolating Juul for destruction. That’s like declaring beer deadly, padlocking only Budweiser, and letting Anchor Steam, Blue Moon, Coors Light, Hoegaarden, and other brews flow. On Juul, the FDA is equally stupid—or vindictive.
By assailing Juul alone, the FDA has created something resembling an unconstitutional bill of attainder. Congress cannot pass a law, say, to lock up Julio Gomez, just because he’s a loser. Laws must apply equally to all Americans.
Juul should not be treated like Julio. If it falls, so must every other company in its industry, for better or worse.
The FDA and other prohibitionists weaponize boys and girls to pry Juul from adult hands. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., last week praised the FDA for “finally starting actions to remove the products produced by the Juul company that endanger our children.”
Great idea! If children enjoy things that are adults-only, let’s ban them—to save the kids. Some teenagers drink beer. So, take beer off the market.
Some adolescents have sex before age 18. Let’s stop sex altogether—even for grown-ups. Why? Think of the children.
Here’s a better idea: If parents catch their minor children smoking Juuls, spank and ground them until they stop. The FDA should let parents be parents.
The FDA also hounded Juul into dropping its fruit-flavored products because “the children” like them.
Breaking news for FDA busybodies: Adults like fruit flavors, too. Cherry-flavored sawdust? Yes, please! Super Poligrip sells in fresh mint. Denture adhesive is not marketed to teenagers.
The FDA also wants to ban menthol from traditional cigarettes, totally neglecting that many black smokers like that taste. Biden wants blacks to endure systemic racism without even menthol to ease the pain.
Team Biden also aims to reduce the nicotine in each cigarette. Prediction: Smokers will inhale more cigarettes to ingest the same amount of nicotine, thus increasing their intake of ammonia, butane, and other goodies in old-school cigarettes.
Biden, the FDA, and Washington’s other dictators should get their fangs out of Juul, let adult smokers enjoy whatever “childish” flavors they like, and leave nicotine levels alone.
Meanwhile, they should focus like bloodhounds on baby formula and tampons.
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