Significant cuts were implemented across the federal health workforce, including the removal of Brian King, the chief tobacco regulator at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These cuts follow the voluntary departure of 10,000 workers from the Department of Health and Human Services, roughly a quarter of its original staff, coinciding with the CDC's announcement of an $80 million reduction in pandemic grants for the state.
Brian King, who joined the FDA in 2022, has been placed on administrative leave and offered reassignment to the Indian Health Service after ordering thousands of companies to withdraw fruit and candy-flavored e-cigarettes from the market, a decision that faced significant backlash from vaping lobbyists. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the cutbacks in a video, projecting savings of nearly $2 billion annually, while also indicating plans to evaluate ultra-processed foods, childhood vaccines, and antidepressants.
The FDA is now confronted with a leadership void and a strained workforce following weeks of layoffs and a disorganized return-to-office process, which have led to the exodus of nearly all top leaders, including Dr. Peter Marks, who resigned due to concerns about Kennedy's support for vaccine misinformation. Incoming commissioner Marty Makary will take over an agency lacking many of its leading experts, raising fears of a potential scientific brain drain as European institutions seek to recruit American researchers.