Liz Essley Whyte

And industry experts think this is going to be a flood of new products in coming months.

Wow.

Yeah, it's a big shift.

You know, they're saying, well, this is not a guarantee of authorization.

The stated intention of the policy is to move the market from a, you know, dominated by unregulated Chinese vapes to a more regulated market where most of what you see in the vape shop is stuff that the FDA has signed off on.

It is clear that this was a response to the frustration that President Trump exhibited on this issue the other weekend.

They were, you know, moving quickly to try to carry out this aim of the Trump administration in a way that they had not previously done.

And what about public health experts?

What have they said about this policy change?

Depending on where you sit, that could be a good thing.

That could help smokers who want to quit.

Or it could be a really bad thing.

It could introduce people to nicotine addiction who didn't need to be addicted.

And I talked to a former tobacco regulator at the FDA, Mitch Zeller, and he is very concerned about the substance of the policy because it's allowing all these products that have not been scientifically authorized by the FDA onto the market in a way that is not the intent of the law.

And that's very concerning because

now people will be potentially able to get products where the risks might outweigh the benefits.

So he's very worried.

And in addition, we have seen, you know, some vape retailers express assurance that there would be a lot more products coming their way.

So according to Mitch Zeller, that could mean hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands new products in the coming months.

He's actually proven quite popular with FDA staff.