Juul has previously said it would halt all lobbying on any flavor restrictions.
After the allegation from Nivakoff, Crosthwaite told Trump: “What we’re focused on doing, Mr. President, is getting this back to a science-based process.”
He said the FDA is the most appropriate authority to determine which flavors should be allowed on the market.
Senator Mitt Romney, a Utah Republican who has written legislation to ban flavored vaping products, chimed in.
“The kids, how about the children,” he said. “We have almost 6 million kids addicted to nicotine and they’re getting addicted because of flavors.”
Half the high-school children in Utah vape, he said. “They think they’re candy.”
“This is a kid product. We have to put the kids first,” Romney said, eliciting Trump’s promise to raise the legal age to buy vaping products to 21.
Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, told Trump that children would turn to any flavor left on the market. He called Azar’s proposal “an extraordinarily powerful step in the right direction.”
Children began using mint-flavored products after Juul removed mango from the market, and Myers said they would likely turn to menthol if mint is removed.
“It’s one of those big Pandora’s boxes that we just can’t get out of,” he told Trump.