Rich Danker resigns over flavored Vape push at HHS
Rich Danker resigned on Wednesday as chief spokesman for Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., stepping down over the administration's push to allow flavored vape products. He said the move would draw more children into vaping and raise their risk of health problems tied to addiction and cancer.
Rich Danker and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
In a letter to Donald Trump obtained by, Danker wrote that “authorizing flavored e-cigarettes would draw more children into vaping and increase their risk for a number of health issues, from addiction to cancer.” He did not blame the president. The resignation came one day after the head of the Food and Drug Administration quit for the same reason.
Marty Makary’s FDA tenure
The Times reported that tobacco industry executives and lobbyists leaned on Trump and his team to expand access to flavored vaping products for consumers 21 and older. Soon after Trump’s intervention, the Food and Drug Administration authorized the fruit-flavored vapes. Marty Makary was the head of the Food and Drug Administration during his yearlong tenure.
HHS public affairs departures
Danker was the second assistant secretary for public affairs to quit during Kennedy’s tenure. Thomas Corry resigned last year, in part to protest Kennedy’s handling of a measles outbreak in Texas. The CDC’s principal deputy director also recently resigned, and Kennedy’s choice to help lead the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices also recently resigned.
The departures leave HHS with another high-level vacancy after a week of turnover tied to the flavored vape dispute. For people watching the department’s public health decisions, the issue now centers on whether the administration keeps the fruit-flavored authorization in place after two senior resignations over it.
