In 2022, King authored, “Bringing Health Equity to the Forefront of Tobacco Product Regulation.” The report is replete with divisive racial rhetoric finding racism in every corner of federal policy. King has gone so far as to find racism in the term “grandfathered.”

The terminology we use matters as well. In accordance with our commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, we’ve updated the term “grandfathered tobacco product” to “pre-existing tobacco product” to more clearly and appropriately describe these products. The term “grandfathered” – when used to describe someone or something exempt from anew law or regulation – has its roots in 19th century racist voting laws.

King peddles the divisive rhetoric that doesn’t look at smokers as individuals but rather looks at them as members of a racial or ethnic group and moves to craft policy based on race, sex, and group identity.

However, among persons who smoke, progress hasn’t been experienced equitably. Smoking disproportionately affects communities including, but not limited to, certain racial and ethnic populations, low-income populations, people living with mental health conditions, and LGBTQI+ individuals.

The tobacco product landscape has also diversified, particularly in recent years, to include a variety of combustible and non-combustible products. There is no safe tobacco product; however, products do exist on a continuum of risk, with combustible products being responsible for the overwhelming burden of disease and death from tobacco use. Within the U.S., patterns of tobacco product use vary across product types and population groups; for example, by race/ethnicity, e-cigarette use is highest among White youth, while cigar use is highest among Black youth.

King’s hyper focus and leadership on race and identity will inevitably lead to a distribution of resources based on race, an impermissible public policy outcome. King is clear about this and proud of it.

Clear, transparent, and timely communication is vital to advance health equity. We’re living in a time in which people receive communication and information in a variety of ways, and we must leverage the full diversity of those mechanisms to reach key populations, particularly youth and young adults at high risk for tobacco product use, and those who are disproportionately impacted by the negative health consequences of tobacco products.

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Through meaningful consideration of health equity, we’ve implemented: “Fresh Empire” cigarette use prevention campaign (reaching African American, Hispanic, and Asian American/Pacific Islander youth), “This Free Life” cigarette use prevention campaign (reaching LGBTQI+ young adults), “The Real Cost” smokeless tobacco use prevention campaign (reaching rural male youth), and “Every Try Counts” campaign (reaching adults in 35 U.S. counties with high smoking rates to encourage them to quit).

King’s focus on diversity is detrimental to the goals of encouraging individuals to consider the health consequences of smoking rather just treating them as a homogenous blob that is part of a monolithic racial group.

(Source)

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Dr. Martin Luther King famously enjoined that people should be judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin, but on MLK Day, Brian King led “Reducing Tobacco-Related Health Disparities: A conversation with Dr. Brian King, Director of the FDA Center for Tobacco Products” as part of FDA’s Black History month celebration.

(Source)

Throughout his presentation he bragged about the Center for Tobacco Products focus on “health equity” noting:

“I am proud that the Center for Tobacco Products had a very strong foundation on health equity before I arrived.” (at 5:51)

He also stated that he was encouraged that CTP had hiring metrics based on race not on merit.  

“We have been doing work not only to ensure that health equity is encorporated into our workforce, to ensure that our team. Our leadership reflects the population of the country.”

This  focus on “reflecting America” is explicitly discriminatory, since Asians and Jews are disproportionally represented in medical and scientific fields.  It is also disastrous for scientific discovery and science based regulation because it means the best scientists and physicians could be passed over to meet artificial metrics.

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