(CBS NEWS)- President Trump has nominated Stephen Hahn to lead the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) — a role left by Scott Gottlieb in April.
Hahn has been the chief medical executive at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston since May 2018.
If confirmed by the Senate, Hahn will have to figure out how to deal with the ongoing controversy over vaping and e-cigarettes. An increasing number of vaping-linked lung illnesses has attracted national concern, and the president and first lady have made vaping prevention, especially among children and teens, a priority.
Critics of vaping have questioned why the FDA has done so little to regulate the products. As Gottlieb left the administration, the former commissioner warned that stricter action may be needed.
“We think that these products can offer an alternative for currently addicted adult smokers to migrate off of combustible tobacco onto something that doesn’t have all the same risks associated with it. But it can’t come at the expense of addicting a whole generation of kids onto nicotine through these e-cigarette products,” Gottlieb said in an exclusive interview with CBS News earlier this year.
The administration announced efforts in September to ban flavored e-cigarette products, which are popular among teens. Whether the administration will be able to accomplish that remains to be seen.
“We can’t allow people to get sick,” Mr. Trump said in September. “People are dying.”
Last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported a 78% increase in high school students using e-cigarettes in one year. That raises the number of middle and high school students who use tobacco to almost 5 million.
Hahn will also be tasked with continuing the nation’s fight against the opioid epidemic.
Senator Lamar Alexander, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, emphasized how crucial the FDA’s role is and said he looks forward to meeting with Hahn.
“Having the right person lead the FDA is critical to virtually every American,” Alexander said in a statement. “The FDA is responsible for ensuring drugs and medical devices that patients rely on are safe and effective, protecting the nation’s food supply, regulating tobacco products, and implementing 21st Century cures and new federal laws to help combat the opioid crisis. I look forward to meeting with Dr. Hahn and scheduling a hearing to consider his nomination.”