Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that federal agents had carried out nationwide raids to seize Chinese-made vape products, warning that such operations mark the beginning of a broader crackdown.
“The Chinese are getting richer while our children get sicker, and we’re putting an end to that,” Kennedy declared at a press conference on Monday. “Between August 1 and August 14, in partnership with the ATF [Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives] and FDA [Food and Drug Administration], we did purchases at distributors in five different states: in Illinois, New Jersey, North Carolina, Arizona, and then we did more in California and Florida with ATF.”
Kennedy said the coordinated enforcement included ATF visits to 14 different retailers, while HHS investigators targeted five distributors. “The result is today, we are doing raids … across the country to confiscate the vapes. Today, these gentlemen of ATF and FDA confiscated 50 truckloads of this material, and 90 percent of it comes from China,” Kennedy said. He emphasized that the actions are designed “to target the biggest distributors, and also to send a message throughout this entire industry that this will not be tolerated anymore.”
Kennedy credited Attorney General Pam Bondi with leading the effort. “There’s a new sheriff in town. Her name is Pam Bondi, and we are going to target these Chinese vapes and stop them from poisoning our children,” he stated.
The remarks echo Kennedy’s previous statements on Chinese influence in American markets. In 2023, while running for president, Kennedy warned that Wall Street hedge funds and Chinese investors were turning American farms into “corporate fiefdoms.” He noted at the time that China owned nearly 384,000 acres of U.S. farmland and urged restrictions on such purchases.
Kennedy’s announcement also follows other enforcement and policy moves in recent months. In April, Kennedy claimed that under the Biden administration, HHS had become a “collaborator in child trafficking,” contrasting that period with new Trump administration directives. He also pointed to efforts phasing out petroleum-based synthetic food dyes and revising dietary guidelines.
In July, the Department of Justice charged two Chinese nationals with acting as agents of the People’s Republic of China in an alleged effort to collect intelligence on U.S. military service members and facilities.
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