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Tag: RFK Jr

  • Filing Shows FDA Rescinded 229 CTP RIF Notices

    Filing Shows FDA Rescinded 229 CTP RIF Notices

    A court filing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island shows that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Center for Tobacco Products has fully reversed a wave of 2025 reduction-in-force (RIF) notices affecting 229 employees. In a declaration filed March 27, FDA official Melanie M. Keller detailed how the notices, issued March 31, April 1, and May 2, 2025, were rescinded in stages beginning May 1 and continuing through September 12, 2025, across multiple CTP offices, including health communication and education, compliance and enforcement, management, regulations, and public health education.

    The declaration states that on February 3, 2026, all remaining RIF notices were rescinded except for eight employees who had already moved to other CTP divisions. The final rescissions covered staff responsible for public complaints, small business assistance, IT business process support, industry outreach, and management of contracts and grants. The filing also notes that two Office of Science leaders placed on administrative leave after proposed reassignments returned to their roles by November 6, 2025, and that none of the affected employees remains on administrative leave.

    The filing is part of State of New York vs Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., lawsuit.

  • Advocacy Groups Tell RFK Jr. Federal Tobacco Oversight Already Too Thin

    Advocacy Groups Tell RFK Jr. Federal Tobacco Oversight Already Too Thin

    Bloomberg is reporting that more than 80 public health organizations and advocacy groups sent a letter to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. this week voicing concern that recent cutbacks at the Department of Health and Human Services will hurt, or even reverse, decades of progress in reducing the use of tobacco products. Groups including the American Lung Association and Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said the Office on Smoking and Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products, were already stretched thin, and further layoffs would derail efforts to remove unauthorized products and hold tobacco companies accountable. The letter further argues that the FDA’s tobacco regulation is entirely funded by fees levied on the companies selling the products, so personnel cuts do not save any taxpayer money.

    The FDA is also grappling with a booming market for illegal flavored vapes, many of them imported from China. Despite lacking FDA authorization, these products have flooded US shelves, with some estimates suggesting unauthorized vapes now make up as much as 70% of the market.

    RFK Jr., who has supported shrinking the federal workforce and cutting “wasteful” public health spending, has not addressed how the layoffs will affect tobacco regulation. HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Bloomberg.