Poppers, the FDA, & a crackdown decades in the making

Poppers, a party substance long popular with gay men, were thrust into the national spotlight last week when one producer, Double Scorpio, claimed that they halted operations due to a search and seizure by the FDA. There's been no official statement from the FDA saying this raid took place, but the suggestion of a raid — against producers of a substance disproportionately popular with the queer community — certainly raised some eyebrows. Brittany is joined by Selena Simmons-Duffin, NPR's health policy correspondent, and Alex Abad-Santos, Senior Correspondent at Vox. Together they talk about the FDA's concerns about poppers — even before our current administration — and the conspiracy theory that's giving some gay men flashbacks to the 1980s.Support public media. Join NPR Plus today.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy