EXCLUSIVE: Chinese-made nicotine and electronic cigarette products illegally flooded U.S. markets under former President Joe Biden, endangering both adults and children and posing an "urgent threat to U.S. sovereignty, public health, and law enforcement capacity," according to nicotine awareness activist and former GOP senator Richard Burr.
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Burr, who is chair of the Coalition for Smarter Regulation of Nicotine, said that even as the Biden administration cracked down on "reputable" companies like Juul, it took no action to control the flow of off-brand competitor products, most of which were manufactured and exported to the U.S. by Chinese companies through the open borders.
"There was not a policy in the Biden administration to enforce the law at the border. And that's where the growth really came from," he explained, adding, "They not only didn't speak out against them, but they didn't make any attempt, any attempt, at enforcement."
According to Burr, Biden's director of the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), Brian King, bears special blame for overseeing an agency so crippled by inaction that, Burr said, "most of the products that are on the marketplace today not only are illegal, they have never even attempted to go through an application process at the FDA."
However, a spokesperson for King vehemently denied Burr's assertions, telling Fox News Digital that "the claim that there was no attempt at enforcement is not consistent with the facts."
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Burr said that currently approximately 85% of vapor and e-cigarette products sold in the U.S. are either illicit or unauthorized due to the Biden FDA's failure to enforce the law.
Now, Burr is urging the Trump administration to be proactive in fixing the Chinese nicotine problem unleashed on Americans under Biden.
Burr sent a letter to Trump's FDA commissioner, Martin Makary, as well as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, urging them to take urgent action to "restore order" to the marketplace by reforming the government's review process of nicotine and e-cigarette products and then fully enforcing against the entities responsible for growing the illicit market.
In his letter, Burr describes the U.S. as being "in the midst of a crisis created by the free flow of illegal nicotine products into the U.S. marketplace, the majority of which are supplied by Chinese companies that are knowingly breaking U.S. laws."
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"During the Biden Administration, illicit Chinese vaping products, without any regulatory oversight or consumer protections, began flooding our market," Burr wrote. "Produced overseas without meeting FDA safety standards or common tobacco product manufacturing practices, these illicit vapor products are deliberately avoiding compliance with the law, and many are intentionally marketed to underage users with youth-appealing features, for example, Gummy Bear flavors and gaming device screens."
Burr further said that manufacturers of illicit vaping products often use fraudulent shipping declarations and misclassified tariff codes to evade U.S. customs and trade laws.
"President Trump has rightfully warned that counterfeit pharmaceutical products, often linked to the People's Republic of China, threaten the security and safety of Americans," he wrote. "The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has the opportunity to address a similar crisis in the nicotine market by advancing a modern and common-sense approach to regulating nicotine products and effectively enforcing the Tobacco Control Act (TCA) to restore order to the marketplace."
To this end, Burr urged the FDA to "advance a comprehensive, effective regulatory framework," which he said consists of streamlining the FDA's approval process for less harmful smoke-free nicotine products, providing clear regulations to the industry and enforcing the law against companies selling illicit products, providing adult smokers with accurate information on the benefits of switching from cigarettes to FDA-authorized, smoke-free products and using regulation and oversight to drive down underage use.
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Speaking with Fox News Digital, Burr said that both Kennedy and President Donald Trump "have embraced a healthier America that our kids should be eating healthier, should be actively involved, and we should make sure that anything that's detrimental to their ability to grow and to grow up healthy should be constricted significantly."
"This is at the heart of that," he said.
In response, a spokesperson speaking on behalf of King told Fox News Digital that "the claim that there was no attempt at enforcement is not consistent with the facts."
They listed 30 different enforcement actions the agency took under King's tenure in 2023 and 2024, ranging from sending warning letters to potential violators to denying marketing requests to manufacturers not in compliance.
"Within the past few years, the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products took many first-time compliance and enforcement actions, including setting up a joint interagency task force and conducting multiple targeted enforcement operations against illegally imported e-cigarettes in coordination with US Customs and Border Protection. This was in addition to other first of their kind actions across the supply chain focused on unauthorized products from non-US manufacturers, including monthly retailer blitzes against Elf Bar and other unauthorized disposable e-cigarette brands used by youth," they said.
"The FDA and other agencies should build on these efforts and take comprehensive enforcement action against illegal e-cigarettes, particularly those popular among youth," said the spokesperson.
