Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s top spokesperson resigned Wednesday in protest over the agency’s recent push to allow tobacco companies to sell flavored vapes that he said would attract more children to the products.

The department’s assistant secretary for public affairs, Rich Danker, made his concerns known in a resignation letter first reported by The New York Times.

He cited the “approval of e-cigarette flavors that would appeal to children and expose them to nicotine addiction, lung damage, and higher risk of cancer” as one of the reasons he was leaving the administration.

Danker addressed the letter to President Donald Trump, but did not blame the president for the policy shift, which the White House has been privately pushing for. Instead, Danker praised Trump at length.

“It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve one of the greatest presidents in American history in both of your administrations,” Danker wrote.”You have twice restored our prosperity and national security against all odds.”

Danker blamed unnamed “senior HHS officials” for the e-cigarette flavor policy shift.

“Routine approval of these products would undermine the agency’s Flavored Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems Premarket Applications — Considerations Related to Youth Risk guidance for industry issued March 9 with the support of the White House,” Danker wrote.

The department appeared to confirm Danker’s resignation Wednesday in a statement to NOTUS.

“Political appointees are here to execute that mission with urgency, discipline, and focus. Individuals who lose sight of the mission and the responsibility they were entrusted with are free to move on from the agency. HHS remains fully committed to delivering results for the American people,” a spokesperson said.

Danker’s resignation comes a day after the Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary also announced his resignation.

Makary and Trump reportedly clashed last week over Makary’s reluctance to approve flavored vapes due to concerns about the health risks they might pose to children. The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump pressed Makary to approve more vape flavors in an effort to appeal to MAGA voters.

Last week, the FDA followed through on Trump’s request and announced it would approve the new vape flavors, including mango and blueberry.

Danker is the second assistant secretary for public affairs to quit under Kennedy. Thomas Corry resigned after just two weeks, clashing with Kennedy over how he handled the measles outbreak in Texas.