Just a few years ago, e-cigarettes were lauded as a public-health miracle that could wean addicts off of far more harmful smoking habits. Today, the same e-cigarettes are denounced as a public-health nightmare, and their sale is increasingly restricted. How did this happen? And which view is more right?

Guest Sally Satel joins us to tell a story of tone-deaf manufacturers, flawed regulation, media scare-mongering, and an extraordinary lack of intellectual integrity in a prominent sector of the public-health community. And she discusses the implications for America’s public-health experts going forward as we continue to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

Sally Satel is a psychiatrist, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, and a visiting professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. This podcast discusses themes from Sally’s essay in the Spring 2020 issue of National Affairs, “The E-Cigarette Revolution That Wasn’t.” You can also read an annotated version of Sally’s essay here.