Skip Murray appointed to FDA tobacco products advisory committee

Consumer advocate Skip Murray appointed to advise US FDA on nicotine regulation

Longtime consumer advocate Kim “Skip” Murray, who was the first ever interviewee for Clearing the Air back in 2024, has been appointed to the FDA’s Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC), which advises the US regulator on how to implement its tobacco and nicotine policies.

Peter Beckett

Published October 19, 2026Oct 19, 2026 Reading time: 2 min read

Sources

At a glance

What happened

Kim “Skip” Murray has been appointed as the general-public representative on the FDA’s Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee, in a voting role.

Why it matters

The appointment gives a consumer advocate with personal experience of smoking, vaping and supporting others to quit a role in advising the FDA on tobacco-product regulation.

Who is affected

Consumers, smoking-cessation advocates and others following FDA tobacco and nicotine policy may have an additional consumer perspective represented on TPSAC.

What happens next

Murray’s appointment has been effective since 12 July; her term is due to run until July 2030.

The appointment, which was announced last week, has actually been effective since 12 July, and her term runs until July 2030.

Murray, a former vape shop owner from Minnesota, has been appointed as the committee’s representative of the general public, a voting position that will give her a voice in advising the FDA on tobacco product regulation.

In her 2024 interview with Clearing the Air, Murray explained how her personal experiences of smoking-related illness and death had motivated her advocacy work.

“Just about everybody important to me in my life has died from smoking,” she said.

Murray, who helped three generations of her own family quit smoking through vaping, has also been a vocal critic of misinformation surrounding safer nicotine products. But she has consistently argued for a less confrontational approach to tobacco policy.

“I do believe there should be better ways to balance the conversation and work on both prevention and cessation at the same time,” she told us.

I do believe there should be better ways to balance the conversation and work on both prevention and cessation at the same time,

Skip Murray

Her appointment brings the perspective of someone with direct experience of smoking, switching to vaping and helping others quit to a committee traditionally dominated by scientific and medical experts.

Greg Conley, a longtime US-based harm reduction advocate who has recently joined Imperial Brands (a tobacco company), hailed the decision as “the first time a genuine consumer advocate has held the position” of public representative on TPSAC.

“This is a concrete development in public participation” said Alan Gor, an Australian advocate, oh his Substack.

“It does not establish a change in FDA policy, and advisory membership does not confer product-authorisation powers” he continued. “Its broader significance is the opportunity it creates. Consumer experience can help identify questions that technical assessments might overlook: whether products are usable, whether advice reflects people’s circumstances, and what happens when an alternative becomes inaccessible”.

At a glance

Read by the people writing the rules.

Sources and references