Trump reportedly pressed FDA chief to authorize mango and blueberry vapes after years of rejection

For the first time, the FDA under President Donald Trump has authorized the sale of fruit-flavored vape products from Los Angeles-based Glas Inc., including its Classic Menthol, Fresh Menthol products, as well as mango and blueberry-flavored pods respectively dubbed Gold and Sapphire. Each contains 5%-tobacco-derived nicotine, according to the agency. Other authorized e-cigarette products from companies like Juul Labs are either menthol or tobacco-flavored. 

The move marks a change from the Biden administration’s stance, under which the agency rejected more than 26 million applications for flavored vape products with the intention of keeping them away from children. Last year, the Supreme Court ruled in an unanimous decision the FDA could deny authorization for vape products that it believes may appeal to children, after vape manufacturers sued the agency. Vape manufacturers argue the products can help adult smokers quit using cigarettes by offering a less harmful alternative.

Trump reportedly pressed FDA commissioner Dr. Marty Makary to allow the products to be sold, the Wall Street Journal reported. The president also reportedly chastised Makary for not moving quicker on the issue over the weekend after having sought information from his advisors about how his base thought about the issue of vapes, the outlet reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

White House spokesperson Kush Desai said in a statement to Fortune that the Biden administration cracked down on flavored vapes despite evidence that the products help adults quit smoking.

“The only factor guiding the Trump administration’s health policymaking is Gold Standard Science, and the FDA under Commissioner Makary’s trailblazing leadership will continue to make evidence-based decisions that rectify the Biden administration’s missteps and that are in the best interest of the American people,” said Desai in a statement.

The FDA said in a Wednesday press release Glas Inc’s “device access restriction technology” which requires online customers to verify their identity with a government-issued ID and a smartphone, as well as marketing restrictions preventing the company from targeting buyers younger than 21, are sufficient to keep the products away from children. 

The president has changed his previous position on flavored vapes. In 2019, during his first term, Congress tucked an initiative into a spending bill that raised the age at which people can buy tobacco products to 21. In that same year, Trump said he would ban flavored vapes, because “we can’t allow people to get sick and allow our youth to be so affected.” 

Yet, following a meeting with a key industry lobbyist, Trump changed his tone on the topic, the Washington Post reported. During his 2024 election campaign, Trump also received donations from a subsidiary of Reynolds American, the nation’s second-biggest tobacco company, which sells vape products under the brand Vuse, the outlet reported. 

During Trump’s first term, efforts by the FDA to crack down on companies selling vapes to minors as well as a public education campaign focusing on the costs of smoking prevented just under 450,000 young people from smoking, according to a study published by the peer-reviewed American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Still, the FDA’s most recent action raised alarms with anti-smoking organizations. Kelsey Romeo-Stuppy, the managing attorney at Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), said the authorization fails Americans’ right to health.

“ASH is deeply disappointed that the FDA has approved these products,” Romeo-Stuppy said in a statement to Fortune. The “flavors induce people, many of them children and young adults, to use a product that may result in a lifetime of addiction and other harms.” 

Kathy Crosby, the CEO of Truth Initiative, one of the country’s largest public health organizations focused on preventing youth tobacco addiction, said in a statement that after authorizing the sale of the vape products, the FDA has a responsibility to prevent them from falling into the hands of minors. 

“The FDA has a responsibility to ensure that products meet a rigorous public health standard that considers both the potential benefit for adults who smoke and the risks to youth,” Crosby said. “With these products now authorized, the agency must closely monitor how they are marketed and used to confirm that they continue to meet that high bar—and take swift action if they don’t.”