Bloomberg Flavour Ban Plan – A Conflict Of Interest?

The Michael Bloomberg flavour ban plan looks like pie in the sky given this US presidential wannabe hasn’t got a cat in hells chance of getting elected.

However, a closer look at not only his pledge to ban all flavoured e-liquid products, but his monetary support to anti-vape groups and his business interest in a new kind of vape product, shows perhaps more than a hint of ‘killing off the competition‘.

Michael Bloomberg is a billionaire media magnate and is a late entry as a 2020 Democratic Party’s candidate to run against President Trump.

He’s a long time vehement anti-tobacco campaigner donating hundreds of millions of dollars to ‘fight’ Big Tobacco and has more recently turned his attention to vaping.

He’s about as anti-vaping as they come as you can see in his grand plan for e-cigarettes in the USA:

• Direct the FDA to prohibit the sale of all flavored e-cigarettes, as well as all menthol-flavored tobacco products.
• Direct the FDA to speed up its review of e-cigarettes.
• Reduce the amount of nicotine in traditional cigarettes, e-cigarettes, and other tobacco products to non-addictive levels.

A statement on Bloomberg’s website says:

While the Trump Administration has promised action to protect our kids, they have backed away from their promise to ban all flavored e-cigarettes.

As president, Mike Bloomberg will make vaping a public health priority and ensuring the industry is no longer able to target children and peddle their dangerous products.

Flavored products – designed for and marketed to minors – are the tobacco industry’s big bet on the future of their business.

Unlike President Trump, who has made the profits of JUUL and other tobacco companies his priority, Mike will put the health of children and families first by banning flavored e-cigarettes.

Total bullshit of course, no vape or e-liquid company is targeting kids for Christ sake!

But this can be seen as trying to grab the anti-vape soccer mom vote as well as the support from Big Pharma…more on Big Pharma in a moment.

Here’s what he said:

The government should help people quit tobacco and nicotine.

As president, Mike will make health insurance companies cover counseling and cessation medicines for smokers trying to quit.

These services will be provided without copays, prior authorization requirements or limits on the duration of treatment.

Mike will also require the FDA to expedite the approval of improved smoking-cessation products through its Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.

What he fails to see is the Government of pretty much all countries where vaping has replaced smoking in huge numbers didn’t get involved – vapers did it for themselves!

Bloomberg Flavour Ban and Big Pharma’s HALE Device

So why is Bloomberg’s flavour ban plan and support of Big Pharma [with FDA backing] bringing out what he calls “improved smoking-cessation products” and medicines, a conflict of interest?

It’s really quite simple and incredibly cynical.

I’m of course talking about the start-up ‘vape’ device called the Hale from a company called Hava Health.

I first wrote about this back in September 2019 and showed that whilst it could be described as a vape device – the young company is going down the Big Pharma route and seeking FDA approval – so avoiding the PMTA process…or at least that’s my understanding.

The team behind the Hale say it’s direct competitor isn’t the likes of JUUL or other vape devices – but the lucrative Big Pharma patches – gums and sprays market – which we of course know don’t work.

The true facts are using an e-cigarette makes you twice as likely to quit smoking – it’s that simple.

Co founder Josh Israel said:

We’re not another vape device or another e-cigarette.

Our mission is to actually help people quit their addiction to nicotine. We have a patented design.

What we do is we separate nicotine from the other compounds. We reduce the nicotine as we leave the other oils the same.

Over time we reduce the nicotine and increase the clean oils and we get them to zero percent.

Wonder what ‘flavours’ might come with the Hava?

Key here is billionaire Michael Bloomberg has financial ‘ties’ to Hava Health and in particular the Hale device.

The Anti-Vaping Billionaires Club

He is part of a quaint sounding, yet extremely powerful venture capital group called Village Global.

When I say powerful, I mean this group includes billionaires such as Microsoft’s Bill Gates – Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg from Facebook and of course former New York Mayor and now media mogul Michael Bloomberg – plus many more of the 1%.

They are among a number of venture capitalist groups behind the push to get the Hava into the market place.

Just a reminder the Hava first came to the public’s attention just as the supposed ‘teen vaping crisis‘ and the EVALI contaminated THC cartridges outbreak became headline news.

Perfect timing one might say…

It was around the same time Bloomberg donated $160 million to various anti-vaping groups that suddenly cropped up across America.

That sounds like a lot of money, and it is to you and me – but to a serial philanthropist it’s pocket change.

However, the funding from the Bloomberg Initiative, has allowed groups such as the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids to up the anti-vaping ante and in turn getting more publicity and therefore more support from politicians.

So…a donation to fervent anti-vaping groups – the cash backing of a Big Pharma vape device and now the Bloomberg flavour ban pledge are, I think you’ll agree, clearing the competition.

Sure Bloomberg might genuinely be as anti-tobacco and vaping as he claims – however it all looks very murky indeed with his cash behind the Hale – even if it is a tiny percentage – it still begs the question – conflict of interest?

A case of the “vape will soon be dead – all Hale the anti-vaping King” maybe?

Me a cynic?

Naw… 😉

Any thoughts on this please let me know in the comments below!