�Թϲ�����

President Donald Trump will meet with medical experts, health advocates and industry representatives on the problem of underage vaping later this week, White House officials said Wednesday. Electronic cigarette use by teenagers has surged, but federal authorities have not yet finalized a plan for regulating e-cigarettes. At the White House meeting set for Friday, administration officials said Trump will hear from representatives from “all sides” of the vaping issue as he weighs “responsible guidelines.” (Perrone, 11/20)

Friday’s meeting “will allow the president and other administration officials an opportunity to hear from a large group, representing all sides as we continue to develop responsible guidelines that protect the public health and the American people,” according to the statement. (Leary, 11/20)

"The policy making process is not stalled," White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement. Trump on Nov. 11 said he would be meeting with industry representatives after previously saying his administration would release its position on vaping last week, though it never was. The Trump administration in September announced a sweeping plan to ban all e-cigarette and vaping flavors aside from tobacco flavors. Trump earlier this month said he would raise the age to buy such products to 21. (11/20)

An estimated 27.5 percent of high school students and 10.5 percent of middle school students said they had used e-cigarettes in the past month, according to one of the studies conducted by government researchers. (Hellmann, 11/20)

On Wednesday, the administration also appears to have shelved a plan to cut nicotine levels in traditional cigarettes to non-addictive levels, a policy pushed by Gottlieb. The FDA said that while it was still working on that effort, it was not a near-term priority. (Wingrove, 11/20)

The Trump administration is tabling a proposal to set a maximum nicotine level in cigarettes. The effort, originally put forward in 2017 and refined last year, does not appear on the regulatory agenda for the next several months that HHS released this morning. Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb proposed the rule as a way to make it harder for youths to get addicted to cigarettes and make it easier for smokers to quit or switch to replacement products like nicotine patches or gums. FDA was working on the rule as recently as this summer. (Allen, 11/20)

Lawsuits filed against Juul this week by the attorneys general of New York and California claim that the embattled company deliberately marketed and sold vaping products to young people — and helped create a public health crisis. On Tuesday, the American Medical Association echoed those concerns and called for a sweeping ban on vaping products. (Zraick, 11/19)

“It’s simple — we must keep nicotine products out of the hands of young people and that’s why we are calling for an immediate ban on all e-cigarette and vaping products from the market,” AMA President Patrice Harris said in the statement. “With the number of young people using e-cigarettes spiking it is not only critical that there is research into nicotine addiction treatments for this population, but it is imperative that we continue efforts to prevent youth from ever using nicotine.” The AMA said it would advocate for additional research on using these products to quit tobacco use and on the effects of nicotine dependence and tobacco use disorder on youth populations. (Coeman, 11/20)

Pressure is building on Congress to act on rising youth vaping rates amid inaction from President Trump. House Democrats plan to pass a bill by year’s end that would ban flavored e-cigarette products they say helped to spark a teen vaping epidemic. Democrats found themselves in rare agreement with Trump when he vowed to clear the market of those products two months ago, but he has since backed off after facing a backlash from vapers, conservative groups and the industry. (Hellmann, 11/20)

Massachusetts lawmakers passed a bill in the early morning hours Thursday to enact the country’s most stringent state ban on flavored tobacco, including menthol cigarettes, in an effort to combat youth tobacco use. The Democratic-led legislature sent the bill to Republican Gov. Charlie Baker after a final preholiday session at the state capital stretched beyond midnight. The House passed the flavor ban last week, but needed to clear it again after the Senate added some amendments following a long floor debate. (Kamp, 11/21)

“This nation-leading step will save lives,” House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo said of the bill. The legislature’s relatively swift action stands in contrast to the retreat the Trump administration appears to be beating on the issue, after the president backtracked on a similar ban on fruit, candy, and mint-flavored e-cigarettes a few months after saying he intended to “clear the market” of flavored vaping products. (Stout and McGrane, 11/21)

A Manhattan man is New York state’s second vaping-related death, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. The man, in his 30s, had a reported history of using e-cigarettes and vape products, the governor said Wednesday. A spokesman for the state’s Department of Health said the agency is investigating whether both THC, the psychoactive compound in marijuana, and nicotine were a factor in his death. (West, 11/20)