The partisan political sniping over Covid-19 is completely predictable and counter-productive. There's plenty of fault to go around, but the blame-gaming should be ignored or discounted for what it is: self-aggrandizing grandstanding.

It is, however, worthwhile to examine a tension that has been brewing in the public health world for decades. That dichotomy is: should we focus on communicable diseases, as has long been the mission of public health institutions, or do we have enough bandwidth and resources to venture out into the much more controversial area of non-communicable diseases (NCDs)?

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There seems to be an inclination among policy-makers that adherence to evidence-based policy-making is a luxury we can only afford when not in a crisis.

After the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control bungled last year's "EVALI" outbreak, one might have thought federal officials would have exhibited some humility. Or at least limited their statements to those supported by science.

But when it comes to tobacco and vaping policy, that's just not the case.

According to a March 27th article in Bloomberg News, titled, "Vaping Could Compound Health Risks Tied to Virus, FDA Says,"

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President Trump announced at the White House coronavirus press briefing on Tuesday that the United States will immediately halt all funding for the World Health Organization, because it had caused "so much death" by "severely mismanaging and covering up" the coronavirus' spread, putting "political correctness over lifesaving measures."

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The Green New Dealers want us to think we have to either live more austere lives under coercive government policies or destroy the planet. Opponents of their plan, the theory goes, are willing to sacrifice the environment for short-term financial prosperity for the elite few.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Meeting Americans' needs, especially those of the neediest, requires free markets that can realize and reward the benefits of technological innovations, big and small.

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Smoking rates among adults and youth are plummeting. And while too many youth are vaping, legislators and regulators at the federal lave have recently made significant changes which are likely to improve the situation.

But state legislatures around the country are poised to do what some politicians do best: Overreact.

That's what happened in New Jersey this month, where Governor Murphy signed a bill banning the sale of flavored e-cigarettes to everyone, including adult smokers. Many states are also considering disproportionate taxes on e-cigarettes, a move that has already backfired in Minnesota, where quitters are become smokers again.

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