By A government watchdog organization has uncovered substantial spending by the Food and Drug Administration on public relations firms, nonprofits, and universities, amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars. This financial activity remained undisclosed until a legal battle compelled the agency to release the records.
Protect The Public’s Trust (PPT), the group responsible for the investigation, obtained the documents only after suing the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), which had previously resisted transparency requests. Following months of delays, the released records reveal extensive expenditures that critics argue call into question the agency’s priorities and oversight, noted The Washington Reporter.
The FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products sets performance standards and reviews premarket applications for new tobacco products. CTP is funded by user fees, which are fees charged to companies and other organizations that participate in certain programs or regulated activities.
The CTP’s reliance on user fees “puts not just its appropriations but its expenditures outside the oversight of congressional and private watchdogs,” PPT’s director, Michael Chamberlain, told the Reporter. “This would not be a problem if CTP were adhering close to its mission. However, CTP has been smacked down by multiple courts for shirking its duties to evaluate and approve applications to sell vaping products.”
“Hundreds of thousands of applications from legitimate manufacturers lay in purgatory while illegal Chinese vapes flood the market to the tune of $3.5 billion per year,” he said. “Meanwhile, CTP has spent more than a half-billion dollars with a single PR firm in the last few years… Even after the lawsuit, FDA continued to stall, claiming confusion about the requests. After months of delay, the agency provided a list of user fee recipients and amounts.”
The largest recipient of funds from the CTP overall, at $500 million, was True North Communications, a partnership between global PR firm FCB Global’s New York component and Rescue. Other advertising firms received almost seven figures sums as well. Competitive marketing data company Comperemedia Inc received $950,000, while other, smaller agencies received smaller sums.
Critics argue that while the CTP allocated substantial resources to promotional campaigns, it neglected its responsibility to regulate the vaping industry effectively.
The watchdog asserts that the FDA’s financial connections to advocacy groups and marketing firms highlight a troubling pattern of mismanagement. The organization’s report accuses the agency of prioritizing public relations over regulatory enforcement, describing its actions as a mix of waste, fraud, and abuse. The report further claims that the FDA is heavily influenced by anti-nicotine special interest groups, focusing more on maintaining a favorable public image than addressing critical public health concerns.
Chamberlain suggested that restoring public confidence in the FDA and its parent agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, would require meaningful reforms, beginning with greater transparency at the CTP. He emphasized that new leadership committed to restoring trust should prioritize investigating the agency’s financial practices.
He’s not wrong. Almost two-thirds of Americans lack trust in the federal government, a sentiment that has grown over the past two years, bringing confidence in political institutions to near-record lows, according to polling.
A recent Partnership for Public Service poll of 800 U.S. adults found that only 23% trust the government, down from 35% in 2022. The survey also revealed that a growing number of Americans view the federal government as ineffective, with just 15% considering it transparent.
The FDA has yet to respond to the allegations.
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