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They ask Juul for data, plans and other information about his popularity among young people and his relationship with tobacco giant Altria, who invested nearly $ 13 billion in the company at the end of the year. 'last year.
The Altria agreement indicated that Juul was "more interested in the profit margin than in protecting the children of our country," says the letter signed by Democrats, including Dick Durbin of Illinois, Ron Wyden of Oregon, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
"Altria has a long and sordid history of spending billions to encourage children to smoke through targeted campaigns that deliberately lie about the scientific effects and effects of smoking on health," the letter says.
This decision comes as Dr. Scott Gottlieb – who was taking a firm stance against the miners' vaping as Commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration – resigned on Friday, raising questions about how aggressively the agency will continue to deal with the issue under new leadership.
"Acting Commissioner of the FDA [Dr. Ned] Sharpless must, from day one, work to protect our country's children from a long-time nicotine addiction by putting the full force of the FDA behind this effort, "Durbin said in a statement.
"An epidemic must be treated immediately, not in months or years," he said.
Senators urge Juul to provide detailed information on his sales and advertising expenses. how does the company plan to prevent minors from seeing its ads or buying its products; the new trading relationships that emerged after the announcement of Altria; how does the company plan to check ages and prevent people from ordering bulk online; and what financial links does the company have with the "conservative and anti-regulatory organizations" that wrote to President Trump in February in hopes of curbing FDA repression.
In addition, legislators have asked for a complete list of "social media influencers" paid by Juul to publicize his brand. A CNN survey in December helped to better understand Juul's influencer program and to identify several social media users who participated. At the time, a representative of Juul stated this the company had abandoned this program, describing it as being small and short-lived. But now, senators want to know if the company has conducted its business in accordance with the rules of the Federal Trade Commission.
The company's response to the letter – addressed to its general manager, Kevin Burns – is requested by April 25.
In a statement sent Monday by email, Juul said "we welcome the opportunity to share information regarding JUUL Labs' commitment to limit the use of our products to minors while fulfilling our mission of Eliminate combustible cigarettes ", promising to continue working with various elected officials and authorities. The company added that it had taken steps to limit the use of minors, including ending most retail sales of flavored products and some of its social media accounts.
Juul also said that his agreement with Altria "will help us deter adult smokers from smoking combustible cigarettes by helping us put our product in their hands" – including Juul inserts in cigarette packages, for example.
Juul said that its products are intended to convert former adult smokers into what it calls a less harmful alternative. But, as a result of the Altria accord, senators said that Juul "lost the little credibility that remained to society when it claimed to care about public health."
The FDA revealed in November that vaping had increased by nearly 80% among high school students and 50% among college students since the previous year. Public health experts say Juul has made a big contribution, holding about 75 percent of the US e-cigarette market.
Experts worry that e-cigarettes could put children's developing brains at risk, make them addicted to nicotine early in life, and act as a gateway to smoking and other drugs.
The FDA conducted its own investigation of electronic cigarette manufacturing companies to determine if they were marketing products illegally and if they did not comply with the agency's compliance policy. The agency also conducted a surprise inspection of the Juul headquarters in San Francisco in October, seizing thousands of documents, many of which relate to its sales and marketing practices.
Most of the same senators also wrote to Juul last year asking the company to quickly take steps to ensure that its nicotine-containing products do not fall into the hands of children – but they were disappointed by the lack of progress since then, legislators said. .
"While you and your investors are perfectly happy to hook a whole new generation of children into your tobacco products to increase your profit margins," says the letter, "we will not rest until your dangerous products are will be out of the reach of your business. " the children of our nation. "
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