Tobacco control ‘cuts cannot be reconciled’

ADA shares concerns over HHS reductions, urges reinstatement of federal offices

The ADA signed onto a coalition letter led by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids that shares concerns about the impact of recent federal workforce reductions on tobacco control efforts.

This comes after the elimination of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office on Smoking and Health, which was located within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and staffing reductions at the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products.

In a May 21 letter addressed to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the coalition said the agency’s reorganization undermines public health infrastructure aimed at preventing tobacco use and jeopardizes longstanding efforts to reduce chronic disease, addiction and tobacco-related death.

“We fear that the recent cutbacks will halt and even reverse the decades of progress our nation has made in reducing the use of lethal and addictive tobacco products at a time when public opinion polling shows widespread support for strong policies to address the impact of tobacco use in the United States,” the coalition said.

The letter calls on Mr. Kennedy to reconsider these cuts given his previously stated goals of reducing chronic disease and improving youth health outcomes, stating the cuts “cannot be reconciled” with this objective. Any strategy focused on reducing chronic disease must address the use of tobacco products, according to the coalition, as cigarette smoking is a primary driver of chronic diseases, including cancer, heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and diabetes.

The coalition said the deep personnel cuts at the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products — including removing the agency’s director, the head of its office of science and elimination of its office of regulations — have “severely weakened [the Center for Tobacco Products’] capacity to exercise its statutorily mandated regulatory authority to protect the public from hazardous and highly addictive tobacco products.”

Additionally, the coalition expressed concern that the elimination of the Office on Smoking and Health will have a “profoundly negative impact” on the nation’s efforts to reduce death and disease caused by tobacco. Potential consequences include difficulties in protecting young people from e-cigarettes and weakening the ability to collect data measuring youth tobacco use through the National Youth Tobacco Survey.

“We agree with the administration’s stated objectives of reducing chronic disease and improving the health of our young people, and, therefore, we strongly urge you to reconsider these cutbacks at [the] FDA and CDC and thereby ensure that our nation’s health agencies work effectively to prevent the egregious health harms of tobacco use,” the coalition said.