President Donald Trump has named his longtime friend and ally Pastor Darrell Scott as a tobacco health adviser at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), even though he has no recorded experience in public health or tobacco control policy. Scott is senior pastor of New Spirit Revival Center Ministries Inc. in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, and CEO of WCCD Radio 1000.
He also also served as a board member of the National Diversity Coalition for Trump before being named a tobacco health adviser at the CDC.
“I am pleased to announce that Pastor Darrell Scott, a longtime friend, respected Faith Leader, and tireless Advocate for America’s Underserved Communities, will be serving my Administration and me as an Advisor for tobacco health issues on the Advisory Committee to the Director (ACD) in the CDC,” President Trump announced on Truth Social Tuesday.
Even though traditional cigarette smoking rates have dropped to a historic low of about 9.9% among adults, according to the CDC, tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S. More than 480,000 people die each year from smoking.
The CDC’s 14-year ad campaign, called "Tips From Former Smokers," went dark last year as tobacco companies gave millions of dollars to political organizations linked to the Trump administration, The New York Times reported in July. Last month, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized the marketing of 11 new nicotine pouch products through its premarket tobacco product application pathway. The U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) dismantled several key groups last year that advocates say had helped lower smoking rates in the U.S. for decades. Dr. Tom Frieden, who led the CDC under President Barack Obama, contends that the cuts are a “gift to Big Tobacco.”