Mike the Mad Biologist

If you have not heard yet, Marty Makary, former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, resigned from the FDA (it was clear he was going to be fired). Makary has said all sorts ridiculous things about COVID, and he was involved in changing how vaccine reviews were conducted, so this is no great loss to the Republic. Unfortunately, the reason for his firing is, well, not good (boldface mine):

Makary’s insiders said the former Johns Hopkins University cancer surgeon resigned after Trump forced his hand on authorizing fruit-flavored e-cigarettes. Makary had reportedly been resisting the sign-offs out of concern that the kid-friendly flavors could again entice youth use and addiction—something public health officials and experts have for years worked to combat. But Makary’s stance was in conflict with Trump’s “save vaping” campaign promise—and with the tobacco industry’s interests.

Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump had called Makary over a weekend to scold him for not moving fast enough to authorize flavored vapes, particularly menthol, mango, and blueberry flavors from the Los Angeles manufacturer Glas. The FDA authorized those flavored products days later and issued a new policy that would make it easier to market flavored vapes.

Officials in the Trump administration also noted that Makary had angered anti-abortion activists, who accused him of slow-walking a safety review of mifepristone, a pill used for abortion and miscarriage treatment.

The upshot of this is the next FDA commissioner likely will be worse: more pliant to Trump et alia, and also more willing to push the Republican Party’s traditional theocratic agenda.

None of this needed to happen.