The Associated Press is reporting that Brian King, the Food and Drug Administration’s chief tobacco regulator, was removed from his post this morning (April 1) amid sweeping cuts at the agency and across the federal health workforce. According to sources familiar with the situation, King sent an email to staff saying, “It is with a heavy heart and profound disappointment that I share I have been placed on administrative leave.”
King was removed from his position and offered reassignment to the Indian Health Service, according to a person familiar with the matter who did not have permission to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity. Dozens of staffers in the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) also received notices of dismissal Tuesday morning, including the entire office responsible for enforcing tobacco regulations.
In recent years, the CTP has been besieged by criticism from all sides, including politicians, anti-smoking advocates, and tobacco and vaping companies. Under King, the FDA rejected applications for millions of flavored e-cigarettes, citing insufficient data that the products would help adult smokers while not becoming popular with underage kids. Those rejections have resulted in multiple lawsuits against FDA from vape makers.
“King, who joined the agency in 2022, has been vigorously criticized by vaping lobbyists for ordering thousands of companies to remove their fruit and candy-flavored e-cigarettes from the market,” the AP wrote. “During his time at FDA, teen vaping has fallen to a 10-year low.”
The latest changes mean that nearly all of FDA’s top leaders overseeing drugs, food, vaccines, medical devices, and now tobacco products have resigned or retired in recent months. This comes after Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s moves to fire 3,500 FDA staffers and push ahead with plans to scrutinize ultra-processed foods, childhood vaccines, antidepressants, and other long-established products.
