Washington, D.C. -Today, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy, held a hearing on “Examining JUUL’s Role in the Youth Nicotine Epidemic: Part I"
TAKEAWAYS
* JUUL targeted schools, downplayed the health impacts and encouraged students to use their products. Meredith Berkman, co-founder of Parents Against Vaping E-cigarettes, testified with two young people that JUUL repeatedly called their product “totally safe," demonstrated how the product worked, and recommended that a nicotine- addicted student use JUUL during a presentation to their 9th grade class, without teachers or parents present.
* Rae O’Leary, of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, testified that JUUL targeted Native American tribes to use as “guinea pigs." In exchange for a $600,000 investment, JUUL solicited tribal medical professionals to provide their devices to tribal members for free and collect information on the tribal members.
* JUUL is replicating marketing tactics formerly used by Big Tobacco. Dr. Robert Jackler, Stanford University School of Medicine, testified about his conversations with JUUL co-founder James Monsees, who said the use of Stanford’s tobacco advertising database was “very helpful as they designed JUUL’s advertising."
WITNESSES
Panel One
Meredith Berkman
Co-founder
Parents Against Vaping E-cigarettes
Rae O’Leary
Public Health Analyst and Researcher
Missouri Breaks Industries Research
Dr. Jonathan Winickoff
Member
American Academy of Pediatrics
Dr. Robert Jackler
Sewall Professor and Departmental Chair
Stanford University School of Medicine
Dr. Raymond Niaura (Minority Witness)
Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences
College of Global Public Health
New York University
Panel Two
Senator Richard J. Durbin
Member of Congress
VIDEOS
Watch Chairman Krishnamoorthi’s opening statement.
Watch Senator Durbin’s testimony.
Watch Chairman Krishnamoorthi’s question line.
Watch Rep. Tlaib’s question line.
Watch Rep. Pressley’s question line.
