Whopper of the Week: RFK Jr. Risks Making Americans Smokers Again

Whopper of the Week:

RFK JR. RISKS MAKING AMERICANS SMOKERS AGAIN

"Nicotine pouches are probably the safest way to consume nicotine, with vapes being second. But the thing we really want to get away from is cigarettes." – Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., July 30, 2025.

SUMMARY

Secretary of Health Kennedy might sound like he is supporting a reasonable harm reduction approach by combatting smoking with new nicotine products, but his record is clear. Under Secretary Kennedy’s watch, the Office of Tobacco and Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was closed. Last fall, President Trump met with tobacco executives and tobacco companies donated to political action committees supporting President Trump. By the spring of 2026, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) relaxed its standards for nicotine products like flavored vapes and nicotine pouches. When Secretary Kennedy publicly promotes nicotine products, he is signaling that the government will no longer help people quit smoking but will make it easier to get addicted to nicotine.

WHY IS THIS A WHOPPER?

The public health successes of tobacco control in the United States were built upon targeting social norms for smoking, preventing youth smoking, and helping people from all walks of life quit smoking. There were federal, state, and local public health mobilizations that limited advertisements for cigarettes, restricted smoking in indoor public spaces, and offered free "quitline" smoking cessation services. The CDC funded innovative research and surveyed smoking behaviors, which the Surgeon General’s office summarized in 35 reports starting in 1964. A federal task force recommended that medical providers screen for smoking, counsel patients to quit, and prescribe smoking cessation medications

In contrast, Secretary Kennedy closed the CDC's Office of Smoking and Health (OSH) in 2025. The OSH contributed to the Surgeon General’s reports on smoking, administered and analyzed the National Youth Tobacco Survey, funded state-based tobacco quitlines, and promoted the Tips From Former Smokers smoking cessation media campaign. Secretary Kennedy eliminated important and effective resources to help people quit smoking.

In addition, the Trump administration made it easier for companies to sell addictive nicotine products. In May 2026, the FDA relaxed its guidance for the marketing of new "nicotine delivery systems" and streamlined the evidence required for nicotine pouches. The FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products now requires less stringent evidence and review of nicotine products and even allows nicotine pouches to make health related product claims.

WHY DOES IT MATTER?

Tobacco control is an amazing American public health achievement. Smoking once was common, acceptable, and exposed almost everyone to first or second-hand tobacco smoke; and caused illness and premature mortality. Adult smoking rates, 42.6% in 1965, declined to 9.9% in 2023-2024. Fewer people smoking means important population health benefits. For example, declining smoking prevented nearly 4 million lung cancer deaths between 1970-2022, accounting for half of all reductions in cancer deaths in the United States. The campaign for tobacco control overcame the political influence of tobacco companies, their nefarious marketing departments, and efforts to influence scientific research and interpretation.

Electronic cigarettes were introduced in the United States in the early 2000s. They promised harm reduction for people who smoke. However, e-cigarettes posed a threat because they normalized nicotine use in non-smoking social settings, harmed youth by making nicotine use seem cool, and carry their own health risks.

After nearly 20 years on the market, data is now emerging that electronic cigarettes are not good tobacco control tools. According to the American Lung Association, “many people who try to quit smoking by using other tobacco products end up using more than one at the same time.” A 2026 study found that the dual use of cigarettes and e-cigarettes is more harmful than cigarettes. While formal smoking cessation interventions using electronic cigarettes modestly out-performs other nicotine products like patches or gum, for each person who quits smoking 2-3 people adopt dual use of cigarettes and electronic cigarettes. When nicotine patches and gum went over-the-counter, attempts to quit smoking increased. In contrast, among people who smoke, electronic cigarettes use actually reduces smoking cessation rates.

Under Secretary Kennedy, we are losing access to trusted data, expertise, and programs focused on tobacco control. Tobacco companies seem to be influencing policy. According to Michelle Goodwin of Georgetown Law School, we risk “Making Americans Smokers Again”.

When Secretary Kennedy says nicotine pouches are best and vapes are second, he is wrong. Patches, gum and lozenges have a track record of benefit and safety; more importantly they are FDA approved as smoking cessation products; not so pouches and vapes. Pouches are not yet well-studied and vapes, as described above, are problematic as a tool for smoking cessation. Most importantly, we need Secretary Kennedy to support tobacco control as a core mission for the health of Americans.