{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-to-fda-eliminate-illegal-chinese-vapes-from-american-markets", "Cotton to FDA: Eliminate Illegal Chinese Vapes from American Markets", "2025-11-05", "2025", "2025-11", "Republican", "Senate", "AR", "Tom Cotton", "C001095", "www.cotton.senate.gov", "cotton", "https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases", "scraper", "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE\n\nContact: Patrick McCann (202) 224-2353\n\nNovember 5, 2025\n\nCotton to FDA: Eliminate Illegal Chinese Vapes from American Markets\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2014 Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) today sent a letter to U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Martin Makary expressing concern about the distribution of illicit Chinese nicotine products. Communist China is flooding American markets with illegal and potentially dangerous products, and specifically targeting our youth.\n\nIn part, Senator Cotton wrote:\n\n\u201cWhile FDA's actions show progress, more must be done. The work must continue until these products are no longer found in America. To combat Chinese influence, FDA should increase the number of regulated, legal, American products available to consumers. To date, FDA has authorized just 39 e-cigarette products, from only five companies, despite receiving over 26 million applications. Only when adult consumers have legal, regulated, and satisfactory alternatives available in the American marketplace will the market demand for illicit Chinese products disappear.\u201d\n\nFull text of the letter may be found here and below.\n\nNovember 5, 2025\n\nThe Honorable Martin Makary, M.D., M.P.H.\n\nCommissioner\n\nU.S. Food and Drug Administration\n\n10903 New Hampshire Ave\n\nSilver Spring, MD 20993\n\nDear Commissioner Makary:\n\nI write to express concern about illicit Chinese nicotine products sold in the United States. Communist China is waging a war on Americans by flooding our market with dangerous products, specifically targeting children.\n\nThe FDA has acknowledged that illicit e-cigarettes manufactured in Communist China contain harmful additives including formaldehyde, lead, and acrolein. Studies show some illicit disposable e-cigarettes release lead amounting to nearly 20 packs of cigarettes during a single day's use, with chromium and nickel increasing up to 1,000-fold over an e-cigarette\u2019s lifespan. The 2019 EVALI outbreak resulted in over 2,800 hospitalizations and 68 deaths, strongly linked to vitamin E acetate in illicit vapor products. The vitamin E acetate \u2013 used as the diluting agent for THC liquid \u2013 was a direct export from China. As the Attorney General has noted, unregulated illicit Chinese e-cigarettes are also at a risk for containing fentanyl, which killed over 48,000 Americans in 2024.\n\nI commend recent Trump administration actions to curb distribution of illicit Chinese e-cigarettes. On September 25, 2025, FDA announced the seizure of more than 2.1 million Chinese e-cigarette products across seven states. FDA also announced the seizure of 4.7 million units valued at $86.5 million, the largest ever seizure of its kind.\n\nWhile FDA's actions show progress, more must be done. The work must continue until these products are no longer found in America. To combat Chinese influence, FDA should increase the number of regulated, legal, American products available to consumers. To date, FDA has authorized just 39 e-cigarette products, from only five companies, despite receiving over 26 million applications. Only when adult consumers have legal, regulated, and satisfactory alternatives available in the American marketplace will the market demand for illicit Chinese products disappear.\n\nI respectfully request responses to the following questions by December 5, 2025:\n\nWhat additional authorities does FDA need to further curb distribution of illicit Chinese e-cigarettes? When might Americans see their disappearance from store shelves?\n\nWhat is FDA's plan to increase the number of regulated American products available in the U.S. market?\n\nSincerely,\n\nTom Cotton\n\nUnited States Senator\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-to-fda-eliminate-illegal-chinese-vapes-from-american-markets"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8227210491895676, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}