Washington, D.C. -Today, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy, released a staff memo detailing new information uncovered in the Subcommittee’s investigation of the youth vaping epidemic.
“The Subcommittee’s investigation has already forced significant changes to the industry’s troubling practices thus far," said Chairman Krishnamoorthi. “In just eight months, the investigation has fundamentally altered the e-cigarette landscape for the better. I hope that this new information, coupled with rigorous oversight from multiple entities, will continue to move us closer to protecting another child from nicotine addiction."
On Sept. 12, 2019, Chairman Krishnamoorthi demanded JUUL produce internal documents and answer key questions. Based on those documents and information, JUUL has admitted that:
* its business strategy relies on keeping users addicted to nicotine;
* it will not rule out re-introducing kid-friendly flavors in the United States, or introducing new ones in the future;
* its targeting of Native Americans was more pervasive than initially known, and they have now identified eight of the tribes it targeted;
* it may still be making claims about safety and efficacy without the legal authorization to do so;
* it is lobbying in 48 states;
* it continues to market to children outside of the United States; and
* its vaping products do not use American-grown tobacco, and its foreign tobacco is mostly processed outside of the United States.
Last July, Krishnamoorthi released a supplemental staff memo based on approximately 55,000 non-public documents produced by JUUL in response to the Subcommittee’s investigation.
