Brian King Doesn't Have to Pretend He's Not a Prohibitionist Anymore

Thirty days after being removed as director of the FDA Center for Tobacco Products, Brian King has been hired by anti-tobacco activist group the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. King will serve as executive vice president in charge of the group’s U.S. programs.

“Brian King is extraordinarily qualified to lead our U.S. programs at this critical time.,” said Tobacco-Free Kids CEO Yolonda C. Richardson in a press release. “Brian has dedicated his career to advancing science-based policies and programs that reduce tobacco use and its devastating consequences. His leadership, passion and breadth of knowledge and experience will guide us in the next phase of our work to protect children and end the death and disease caused by tobacco.”

The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (TFK) is the largest U.S. organization dedicated solely to tobacco control advocacy, and also operates around the world. In the United States, the group’s current operations—which King will oversee—are focused almost exclusively on creating, promoting and lobbying for laws prohibiting flavored vaping and tobacco products. 

TFK and its separate lobbying arm the Tobacco-Free Kids Action Fund have developed a strategy to introduce and pass flavored vape and tobacco bans in U.S. states and cities. They are responsible for almost every successful flavor ban that has been implemented across the country.

Since 2019, TFK has managed grants from billionaire Michael Bloomberg dedicated to passing laws intended to block the use of vaping and other non-combustible nicotine products. TFK received a $160 million grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies in 2019 specifically designated to combat flavored vapes, and got another large grant in 2023.

The job will be perfect for King. At the FDA Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), he essentially abandoned any pretense of being a product regulator, and worked daily to restrict the availability of popular vaping products in flavors other than tobacco. 

Between his arrival at the CTP in 2022 and his departure a month ago, the federal agency has not authorized the sale of a single vaping product in a flavor other than tobacco or menthol, a single bottled e-liquid, a single refillable vaping device, or a single product not manufactured by a Big Tobacco-owned company.

The King hiring may garner much-needed attention for Tobacco-Free Kids, which has lost some of its luster since founder Matthew Myers stepped down as CEO in 2023.

Brian King is not the first CTP official to move seamlessly from being a tobacco regulator to an anti-tobacco warrior. In 2023, then-director of the CTP Office of Health Communication and Education Kathleen Crosby left the agency to become president and CEO of the Truth Initiative, another major tobacco control organization, which works closely with TFK to coordinate campaigns opposing vaping and other consumer nicotine product use.