HHS gutted programs to help people quit smoking. The impact could be deadly.

Public health experts were stunned this week when Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and DOGE gutted key groups that had been successful in helping Americans quit smoking.

Smoking rates in the United States are at historic lows and fewer people are dying from tobacco-related lung cancer — in part because the federal government has pumped millions of dollars into research and attention-grabbing anti-smoking campaigns, as well as resources to help smokers quit.

Public health experts were stunned this week when the Department of Health and Human Services dismantled several key groups that had been hugely successful in helping to curb smoking rates in the U.S. for decades. The groups also tracked youth smoking and vaping rates as well as the appeal of nicotine pouches for teens.

The Office on Smoking and Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — which had been crucial in investigating a deadly wave of lung injuries linked to contaminated vaping devices in 2019 — was gutted.

Dozens of staffers at the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products — which oversees warning labels and restrictions on marketing — were placed on leave, including the center’s director, Brian King.

HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon said in an email that “important work will continue” related to tobacco research and cessation efforts despite cuts meant to “streamline operations, enhance responsiveness to the American people, and ultimately improve the nation’s health as part of the Make America Healthy Again initiative.”