How Three Liberal Nonprofits Drive the Anti-Vaping Campaign

Nicotine vaping provides a safer and healthier alternative to smoking, according to dozens of public health groups and governments, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and the American Cancer Society. But three liberal nonprofits that claim to be devoted to science and public health are bankrolling one of the largest public health campaigns in U.S. history to ban vaping products in the United States.

Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have teamed up, spending over $100 million since 2017 on grants, research, and other nonprofits all dedicated to outlawing nicotine products. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has to a lesser degree joined this effort, giving over $20 million since 2017. In total, the money amounts to an enormous crusade to undercut vaping and non-combustible tobacco products.

But the push also comes amid mounting evidence that smoking alternatives provide a significantly healthier alternative to traditional cigarettes and cigars. Some of the very groups working to ban vaping products from the U.S. market, including Truth Initiative, concede that vaping could dramatically lower smoking rates.

The biggest contributor to the anti-vaping effort is Bloomberg Philanthropies, the eponymous charity started by billionaire Democratic megadonor and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg. Since 2017, his charity has given large sums of money to anti-tobacco organizations such as the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

That group, which has received at least $60 million from Bloomberg, has called for the elimination of all flavored vaping products as well as popular vapes such as Juul. For months, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids lobbied the FDA to deny Juul’s marketing application, which would effectively shut down the company.

The FDA in June concurred with the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids’s position. The move earned applause from the group, calling the FDA’s decision “the most significant action … to reverse the youth e-cigarette epidemic” in the agency’s history.

The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids spent just under $1 million on lobbying efforts in the lead-up to the FDA’s decision this year, federal records show. Among the firms hired included NVG LLC, a Democratic-connected