President Donald Trump advised people not to vape one day after his administration said it would ban the saleof most flavored e-cigarettes.
Trump was asked by reporters on Thursday afternoon if he and the first lady had discussed e-cigarettes or vaping with their 13-year-old son, Barron.
“We haven’t told him anything, except ‘don’t vape,'” Trump said. “Don’t vape. We don’t like vaping. I don’t like vaping.”
The first lady, whose “Be Best” platform focuses in part on children’s health and combating addiction, has spoken out more than once over her concerns over e-cigarette use by children.
Trump said Wednesday that the US Food and Drug Administration would be putting out “some very strong recommendations” regarding the use of flavored e-cigarettes in “a couple of weeks.”
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, seated in the Oval Office with the President, first lady Melania Trump and the acting commissioner of the FDA, announced that newly proposed enforcement policy would require flavored e-cigarette companies to take their products off the market.
“It’ll take several weeks for us to put out the final guidance that will announce all the parameters around the enforcement policy, and then there will likely be about a 30-day delay to effective date, as is customary,” Azar said. But “at that point all flavored e-cigarettes other than tobacco flavor would have to be removed from the market.”
A sixth person in the United States has died from lung disease related to vaping, Kansas health officials said Tuesday.
Two former administration officials have departed the White House to go work for Juul, a popular electronic cigarette company. A third works with the company as a consultant.
